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CHRONOLOGIES  OF  THE  LIFE 
AND  WRITINGS  OF 

WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT 

WITH  A  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  HIS  WORKS 
IN  PROSE  AND  VERSE 


COMPILED   BY 

HENRY  C.  STURGES 

TO  WHICH   IS  PREFIXED   A   MEMOIR   OF  THE   POET   BY 

RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 
1903 


COPTBIOHT,    1903, 

BY  D.   APPLETON   AND   COMPANY. 


Published  September,  190S. 


1 


S  93 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

A  MEMOIK  OF  BRYANT vii 

A  CHRONOLOGY  OP  BRYANT'S  LIFE xxxi 

A  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS Ixvi 

A  LIST  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF  BRYANT'S  WRITINGS  .       .  Ixxvii 

A  LIST  OF  SEPARATE  PUBLICATIONS  BY  BRYANT       ....  xciii 

A  LIST  OF  ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES  BY  BRYANT     ....  xcviii 

A  LIST  OF  ESSAYS  AND  REVIEWS  BY  BRYANT cvii 

A  LIST  OF  WORKS  EDITED  BY  BRYANT  OR  CONTAINING  INTRODUCTIONS 

AND  ORIGINAL  CONTRIBUTIONS cix 

A  LIST  OF  BIOGRAPHIES  OF  BRYANT cxxiv 

A  LIST  OF  MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES  ON  BRYANT,  ETC cxxvi 


4S0573 


MEMOIE. 
BY  RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


MEMOIK. 


THE  ancestry  of  "William  Cullen  Bryant  might  have  been 
inferred  from  the  character  of  his  writings,  which  reflect  what- 
ever is  best  and  noblest  in  the  life  and  thought  of  New  Eng- 
land. It  was  a  tradition  that  the  first  Bryant  of  whom  there 
is  any  account  in  the  annals  of  the  New  World  came  over  in 
the  Mayflower,  but  the  tradition  is  not  authenticated.  What  is 
known  of  this  gentleman,  Mr.  Stephen  Bryant,  is  that  he  came 
over  from  England,  and  that  he  was  at  Plymouth,  Massachu- 
setts, as  early  as  1632.  He  married  Abigail  Shaw,  who  had 
emigrated  with  her  father,  and  who  bore  him  several  children 
between  1650  and  1665,  it  is  to  be  presumed  at  Plymouth,  of 
which  town  he  was  chosen  constable  in  1663.  Stephen  Bryant 
had  a  son  named  Ichabod,  who  was  the  father  of  Philip  Bry; 
ant,  who  was  born  in  1732.  Philip  Bryant  married  Silence 
Howard,  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Abiel  Howard,  of  West  Bridge- 
water,  whose  profession  he  adopted,  being  a  practitioner  in 
medicine  in  North  Bridgewater.  He  was  the  father  of  nine 

children,  one  of  whom,  Peter  Bryant,  born  in  1767,  succeeded 

ix 


X  MEMOIR. 

him  in  his  profession.  Young  Dr.  Bryant  became  enamored 
of  Miss  Sarah  Snell,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Ebenezer  Snell,  of 
Bridgewater,  who  removed  his  family  to  Cummington,  whither 
he  was  followed  by  his  future  son-in-law,  who  married  the  lady 
of  his  love  in  1792.  Two  years  later,  on  the  3d  of  November, 
there  was  born  to  him  a  man-child,  who  was  to  win,  and  to 


"  One  of  the  few  immortal  names 
That  were  not  born  to  die." 

Dr.  Bryant  was  proud  of  his  profession ;  and  in  the  hope, 
no  doubt,  that  his  son  would  become  a  shining  light  therein,  he 
perpetuated  at  his  christening  the  name  of  a  great  medical  au- 
thority, who  had  departed  this  life  four  years  before — William 
Cullen.  Dr.  Bryant  was  the  last  of  his  family  to  practise  the 
healing  art ;  for  Nature,  wiser  than  he,  early  determined  the 
future  course  of  Master  "William  Cullen  Bryant.  He  was  not 
to  be  a  doctor,  but  a  poet.  A  poet,  that  is,  if  he  lived  to  be 
anything ;  for  the  chances  were  against  his  living  at  all.  The 
lad  was  exceedingly  frail,  and  had  a  head  the  immensity  of 
which  troubled  his  anxious  father.  How  to  reduce  it  to  the 
normal  size  was  a  puzzle  which  Dr.  Bryant  solved  in  a  spring 
of  clear,  cold  water,  which  burst  out  of  the  ground  on  or  near 
his  homestead,  and  into  which  the  child  was  immersed  every 
morning,  head  and  all,  by  two  of  Dr.  Bryant's  students — kick- 
ing lustily,  we  may  be  sure,  at  this  matutinal  dose  of  hydro- 
pathy. 

"William  Cullen  Bryant  came  of  Mayflower  stock,  his  moth- 
er being  a  descendant  of  John  Alden ;  and  the  characteristics 


MEMOIR.  XI 

of  his  family  included  some  of  the  sterner  qualities  of  the 
Puritans.  Grandfather  Snell  was  a  magistrate,  and,  without 
doubt,  a  severe  one,  for  the  period  was  not  one  which  favored 
leniency  to  criminals.  The  whipping-post  was  still  extant  in 
Massachusetts,  and  the  poet  remembered  that  it  stood  about  a 
mile  from  his  early  home  at  Cummington,  and  that  he  once 
saw  a  young  fellow  of  eighteen  who  had  received  forty  lashes 
as  a  punishment  for  a  theft  he  had  committed.  It  was,  he 
thought,  the  last  example  of  corporal  punishment  inflicted  by 
law  in  that  neighborhood,  though  the  whipping-post  remained 
in  its  place  for  several  years,  a  possible  terror  to  future  evil- 
doers. "  Spare  the  rod,  spoil  the  child,"  was  the  Draconian 
code  then ;  and  the  rod,  in  the  shape  of  a  little  bundle  of 
birchen  twigs,  bound  together  with  a  small  cord,  was  generally 
suspended  on  a  nail  against  the  wall  in  the  kitchen,  and  was  as 
much  a  part  of  the  necessary  furniture  as  the  crane  that  hung 
in  the  fireplace  or  the  shovel  and  tongs. 

Magistrate  Snell  was  a  disciplinarian  of  the  stricter  sort ; 
and  as  he  and  his  wife  resided  with  Dr.  Bryant  and  his  family, 
the  latter  stood  in  awe  of  him,  so  much  so  that  young  William 
Cullen  was  prevented  from  feeling  anything  like  affection  for 
him.  It  was  an  age  of  repression,  not  to  say  oppression,  for 
children,  who  had  few  rights  that  their  elders  were  bound  to 
respect.  To  the  terrors  of  the  secular  arm  were  added  the 
deeper  terrors  of  the  spiritual  law,  for  the  people  of  that  primi- 
tive period  were  nothing  if  not  religious.  The  minister  was 
the  great  man,  and  his  bodily  presence  was  a  restraint  upon  the 
unruly,  and  the  ruly  too,  for  that  matter.  The  lines  of  our  an- 


lii  MEMOIR. 

cestors  did  not  fall  in  pleasant  places  as  far  as  recreations  were 
concerned ;  for  they  were  few  and  far  between,  consisting,  for 
the  most  part,  of  militia  musters,  "raisings,"  corn-huskings, 
and  singing-schools,  diversified  with  the  making  of  maple  sugar 
and  cider.  Education  was  confined  to  the  three  R's,  though 
the  children  of  wealthy  parents  were  sent  to  colleges  as  they 
now  are.  It  was  not  a  genial  social  condition,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, to  which  William  Cullen  Bryant  was  born,  though  it 
might  have  been  worse  but  for  his  good  father,  who  was  in 
many  respects  superior  to  his  rustic  neighbors.  A  broad-shoul- 
dered, muscular  gentleman,  proud  of  his  strength,  his  manners 
were  gentle  and  reserved,  his  disposition  was  serene,  and  he 
was  fond  of  society.  He  was  not  without  political  distinction, 
for  he  was  elected  to  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representa- 
tives for  several  terms,  and  afterward  to  the  State  Senate,  and 
he  associated  with  the  cultivated  circles  of  Boston  both  as  a 
legislator  and  a  physician. 

William  Cullen  Bryant  was  fortunate  in  his  father,  who,  if 
he  was  disappointed  when  he  found  that  his  son  was  born  to 
be  a  follower  of  Apollo  and  not  of  ^Esculapius,  kept  his  dis- 
appointment to  himself,  and  encouraged  the  lad  in  his  poetical 
attempts.  We  have  the  authority  of  the  poet  himself  that  his 
father  taught  his  youth  the  art  of  verse,  and  that  he  offered 
him  to  the  Muses  in  the  bud  of  life.  His  first  efforts  were 
several  clever  "  Enigmas,"  in  imitation  of  the  Latin  writers, 
a  translation  from  Horace,  and  a  copy  of  verses  which  were 
written  in  his  twelfth  year,  to  be  recited  at  the  close  of  the 
winter  school,  "  in  the  presence  of  the  Master,  the  Minister  of 


MEMOIR.  xiii 

the  parish,  and  a  number  of  private  gentlemen."  They  were 
printed  on  the  18th  of  March,  1807,  in  the  Hampshire  Gazette, 
from  which  these  particulars  are  derived,  and  which  was  fa- 
vored with  other  contributions  from  the  pen  of  "  C.  B." 

The  juvenile  poems  of  William  Cullen  Bryant  are  as  clever 
as  those  of  Chatterton,  Pope,  and  Cowley ;  but  they  are  in  no 
sense  original,  and  it  would  have  been  strange  if  they  had 
been.  There  was  no  original  writing  in  America  at  the  time 
they  were  written ;  and  if  there  had  been,  it  would  hardly 
have  commended  itself  to  the  old-fashioned  taste  of  Dr.  Bry- 
ant, to  whom  Pope  was  still  a  power  in  poetry,  as  Addison,  no 
doubt,  was  in  prose.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  he  should 
offer  his  boy  to  the  strait-laced  Muses  of  Queen  Anne's  time  ; 
that  the  precocious  boy  should  lisp  in  heroic  couplets,  and  that 
he  should  endeavor  to  be  satirical.  Politics  were  running  high 
in  the  first  decade  of  the  present  century,  and  the  favorite  bug- 
bear in  ISTew  England  was  President  Jefferson,  who  in  1807  had 
laid  an  embargo  on  American  shipping,  in  consequence  of  the  de- 
crees of  Napoleon,  and  the  British  orders  in  council  in  relation 
thereto.  This  act  was  denounced,  and  by  no  one  more  warmly 
than  by  Master  Bryant,  who  made  it  the  subject  of  a  satire, 
which  was  published  in  Boston  in  1808.  It  was  entitled  "  The 
Embargo ;  or,  Sketches  of  the  Times,"  and  was  printed  for 
the  purchasers,  who  were  found  in  sufficient  numbers  to  ex- 
haust the  first  edition.  It  is  said  to  have  been  well  received, 
but  doubts  were  expressed  as  to  whether  the  author  was  really 
a  youth  of  thirteen.  His  friends  came  to  his  rescue  in  an 
"  Advertisement,"  which  was  prefixed  to  a  second  edition  of 


XIV  MEMOIR. 

his  little  'brochure,  published  in  the  following  year,  and  certi- 
fied to  his  age  from  their  personal  knowledge  of  himself  and 
his  family.  They  also  certified  to  his  extraordinary  talents, 
though  they  should  prefer  to  have  him  judged  by  his  works, 
without  favor  or  affection.  They  concluded  by  stating  that 
the  printer  was  authorized  to  disclose  their  names  and  places 
of  residence. 

The  early  poetical  exercises  of  William  Cullen  Bryant,  like 
those  of  all  young  poets,  were  colored  by  the  books  which  he 
read.  Among  these  were  the  works  of  Pope,  as  I  have  al- 
ready intimated,  and,  no  doubt,  the  works  of  Cowper  and 
Thomson.  The  latter,  if  they  were  in  the  library  of  Dr.  Bry* 
ant,  do  not  appear  to  have  impressed  his  son  at  this  time  ;  nor, 
indeed,  does  any  English  poet  except  Pope,  so  far  as  we  can 
judge  from  his  contributions  to  the  Hampshire  Gazette,  which 
were  continued  from  time  to  time.  They  were  bookish  and 
patriotic ;  one,  which  was  written  at  Cummington  on  the  8th 
of  January,  1810,  being  "The  Genius  of  Columbia;"  and 
another,  "  An  Ode  for  the  Fourth  of  July,  1812,"  to  the  tune 
of  "  Ye  Gentlemen  of  England."  These  productions  are  un- 
deniably clever,  but  they  are  not  characteristic  of  their  writer, 
nor  of  the  nature  which  surrounded  his  birthplace,  with  which 
he  was  familiar,  and  of  which  he  was  a  close  observer,  as  his 
poetry  was  soon  to  disclose. 

He  entered  "Williams  College,  in  "Williamstown,  Mass.,  in  his 
sixteenth  year,  and  remained  there  until  1812,  distinguishing 
himself  for  aptness  and  industry  in  classical  learning  and  polite 
literature.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  withdrew,  and  com- 


MEMOIR.  XV 

menced  the  study  of  law,  first  with  Judge  Howe,  of  Worth- 
ington,  and  afterward  with  Mr.  William  Baylies,  of  Bridge- 
water.  So  far  he  had  written  nothing  but  clever  amateur 
verse  ;  but  now,  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  wrote  an  imperish- 
able poem.  The  circumstances  under  which  it  was  composed 
have  been  variously  stated,  but  they  agree  in  the  main  particu- 
lars, and  are  thus  given  in  "  The  Bryant  Homestead  Book  " 
(1870),  apparently  on  authentic  information  :  "  It  was  here  at 
Cummington,  while  wandering  in  the  primeval  forests,  over 
the  floor  of  which  were  scattered  the  gigantic  trunks  of  fallen 
trees,  mouldering  for  long  years,  and  suggesting  an  indefinitely 
remote  antiquity,  and  where  silent  rivulets  crept  along  through 
the  carpet  of  dead  leaves,  the  spoil  of  thousands  of  summers, 
that  the  poem  entitled  '  Thanatopsis '  was  composed.  The 
young  poet  had  read  the  poems  of  Kirke  White,  which,  edited 
by  Southey,  were  published  about  that  time,  and  a  small  vol- 
ume of  Southey's  miscellaneous  poems ;  and  some  lines  of 
those  authors  had  kindled  his  imagination,  which,  going  forth 
over  the  face  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe,  sought  to  bring 
under  one  broad  and  comprehensive  view  the  destinies  of  the 
human  race  in  the  present  life,  and  the  perpetual  rising  and 
passing  away  of  generation  after  generation  who  are  nourished 
by  the  fruits  of  its  soil,  and  find  a  resting-place  in  its  bosom." 
We  should  like  to  know  what  lines  in  Southey  and  Kirke 
White  suggested  "  Thanatopsis,"  that  they  might  be  printed  in 
letters  of  gold  hereafter. 

When  the  young  poet  quitted  Cummington  to  begin  his 
law  studies,  he  left  the  manuscript  of  this  incomparable  poem 


ivi  MEMOIR. 

among  his  papers  in  the  house  of  his  father,  who  found  it 
after  his  departure.  "  Here  are  some  lines  that  our  William 
has  been  writing,"  he  said  to  a  lady  to  whom  he  showed  them. 
She  read  them,  and,  raising  her  eyes  to  the  face  of  Dr.  Bryant, 
burst  into  tears — a  tribute  to  the  genius  of  his  son  in  which  he 
was  not  ashamed  to  join.  Blackstone  bade  his  Muse  a  long 
adieu  before  he  turned  to  wrangling  courts  and  stubborn  law ; 
and  our  young  lawyer  intended  to  do  the  same  (for  poetry  was 
starvation  in  America  seventy  years  ago),  but  habit  and  nature 
were  too  strong  for  him.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  tracing  the 
succession  of  his  poems,  and  in  a  few  instances  the  places 
where  they  were  written,  or  with  which  they  concerned  them- 
selves. "  Thanatopsis,"  for  example,  was  followed  by  "  The 
Yellow  Violet,"  which  was  followed  by  the  "  Inscription  for 
the  Entrance  to  a  "Wood,"  and  the  song  beginning  "  Soon  as 
the  glazed  and  gleaming  snow."  The  exquisite  lines  "  To  a 
Waterfowl"  were  written  at  Bridgewater,  in  his  twentieth 
year,  where  he  was  still  pursuing  the  study  of  law,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  distasteful  to  him.  The  concluding  stanza 
sank  deeply  into  a  heart  that  needed  its  pious  lesson : 

"  He  who,  from  zone  to  zone, 
Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  certain  flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone, 
Will  lead  my  steps  aright." 

The  lawyer-poet  had  a  long  way  before  him,  but  he  did 
not  tread  it  alone ;  for,  after  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Ply- 
mouth, and  practising  for  a  time  in  Plainfield,  near  Gumming- 


MEMOIR.  xvi 

ton,  he  removed  to  Great  Barrington,  in  Berkshire,  where  he 
saw  the  dwelling  of  the  Genevieve  of  his  chilly  little  "  Song," 
his  Genevieve  being  Miss  Frances  Fairchild  of  that  beautiful 
town,  whom  he  married  in  his  twenty-seventh  year,  and  who 
was  the  light  of  his  household  for  nearly  half  a  century.  It 
was  to  her,  the  reader  may  like  to  know,  that  he  addressed  the 
ideal  poem  beginning  "  O  fairest  of  the  rural  maids  "  (circa 
1825),  "The  Future  Life"  (1837),  and  "The  Life  that  Is" 
(1858) ;  and  her  memory  and  her  loss  are  tenderly  embalmed  in 
one  of  the  most  touching  of  his  later  poems,  "  October,  1866." 
"  Thanatopsis  "  was  sent  to  the  North  American  fieview 
(whether  by  its  author  or  his  father  we  are  not  told),  and  with 
such  a  modest,  not  to  say  enigmatical,  note  of  introduction, 
that  its  authorship  was  left  in  doubt.  The  fieview  was  man- 
aged by  a  club  of  young  literary  gentlemen,  who  styled  them- 
selves "  The  North  American  Club,"  two  of  whose  members, 
Mr.  Kichard  Henry  Dana  and  Mr.  Edward  Tyrrel  Charming, 
were  considered  its  editors.  Mr.  Dana  read  the  poem  care- 
fully, and  was  so  surprised  at  its  excellence  that  he  doubted 
whether  it  was  the  production  of  an  American,  an  opinion  in 
which  his  associates  are  understood  to  have  concurred.  While 
they  were  hesitating  about  its  acceptance,  he  was  told  that  the 
writer  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate ;  and,  the 
Senate  being  then  in  session,  he  started  immediately  from 
Cambridge  for  Boston.  He  reached  the  State  House,  and  in- 
quired for  Senator  Bryant.  A  tall,  middle-aged  man,  with  a 
business-like  look,  was  pointed  out  to  him.  He  was  satisfied 
that  he  could  not  be  the  poet  he  sought,  so  he  posted  back  to 


XVU1  MEMOIR. 

Cambridge  without  an  introduction.  The  story  ends  here,  and 
rather  tamely;  for  the  original  narrator  forgot,  or  perhaps 
never  knew,  that  Dr.  Bryant  was  a  member  of  the  Senate,  and 
that  it  was  among  the  possibilities  that  he  was  the  Senator  with 
a  similar  name.  American  poetry  may  be  said  to  have  com- 
menced in  1817  with  the  September  number  of  the  Nwth 
American  fleview,  which  contained  "  Thanatopsis "  and  the 
"Inscription  for  the  Entrance  of  a  Wood,"  the  last  being 
printed  as  a  "  Fragment."  Six  months  later,  in  March,  1818, 
the  impression  which  "  Thanatopsis  "  created  was  strengthened 
by  the  appearance  of  the  lines  "  To  a  Waterfowl,"  and  the 
"  Version  of  a  Fragment  of  Simonides." 

Mr.  Bryant's  literary  life  may  now  be  said  to  have  begun, 
though  he  depended  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  for 
his  daily  bread.  He  continued  his  contributions  to  the  North 
American  fieview  in  the  shape  of  prose  papers  on  literary 
topics,  and  maintained  the  most  friendly  relations  with  its  con- 
ductors ;  notably  so  with  Mr.  Dana,  who  was  seven  years  his 
elder,  and  who  possessed,  like  himself,  the  accomplishment  of 
verse.  At  the  suggestion  of  this  poetical  and  critical  brother, 
he  was  invited  to  deliver  a  poem  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society  at  Harvard  College — an  honor  which  is  offered  only 
to  those  who  have  already  made  a  reputation,  and  are  likely  to 
reflect  credit  on  the  Society  as  well  as  on  themselves.  He  ac- 
cepted, and  in  1821  wrote  his  first  poem  of  any  length,  "  The 
Ages,"  which  still  remains  the  best  poem  of  the  kind  that  was 
ever  recited  before  a  college  society  either  in  this  country  or  in 
England;  grave,  stately,  thoughtful,  presenting  in  animated, 


MEMOIR.  XIX 

picturesque  stanzas  a  compact  summary  of  the  history  of  man- 
kind. A  young  Englishman  of  twenty-one — Thomas  Babing- 
ton  Macaulay — delivered  in  the  same  year  a  poem  on  "  Even- 
ing," before  the  students  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge ;  and 
it  is  instructive  to  compare  his  conventional  heroics  with  the 
spirited  Spenserian  stanzas  of  William  Cullen  Bryant. 

The  lines  "  To  a  Waterfowl,"  which  were  written  at  Bridge- 
water  in  1815,  were  followed  by  "  Green  Eiver,"  "  A  Winter 
Piece,"  "  The  West  Wind,"  «  The  Burial-Place,"  "  Blessed  are 
they  that  mourn,"  "No  man  knoweth  his  Sepulchre,"  "A 
Walk  at  Sunset,"  and  "  The  Hymn  to  Death." 

These  poems,  which  cover  a  period  of  six  busy  years,  are 
interesting  to  the  poetic  student  as  examples  of  the  different 
styles  of  their  writer,  and  of  the  changing  elements  of  his 
thoughts  and  feelings.  "  Green  River,"  for  example,  is  a  mo- 
mentary revealment  of  his  shy  temperament  and  his  daily 
pursuits.  Its  glimpses  of  nature  are  charming,  and  his  wish 
to  be  beside  its  waters  is  the  most  natural  one  in  the  world. 
The  young  lawyer  is  not  complimentary  to  his  clients,  whom 
he  styles  "  the  dregs  of  men,"  while  his  pen,  which  does  its 
best  to  serve  them,  becomes  "a  barbarous  pen."  He  is  de- 
jected, but  a  visit  to  the  river  will  restore  his  spirits ;  for,  as 
he  gazes  upon  its  lonely  and  lovely  stream, 

"  An  image  of  that  calm  life  appears 
That  won  my  heart  in  my  greener  years." 

"  A  Winter  Piece  "  is  a  gallery  of  woodland  pictures  which 
surpasses  anything  of  the  kind  in  the  language.  "  A  Walk  at 


XX  MEMOIR. 

Sunset "  is  notable  in  that  it  is  the  first  poem  in  which  we  see 
(faintly,  it  must  be  confessed)  the  aboriginal  element,  which 
was  soon  to  become  a  prominent  one  in  Mr.  Bryant's  poetry. 
It  was  inseparable  from  the  primeval  forests  of  the  New 
World,  but  he  was  the  first  to  perceive  its  poetic  value.  The 
"  Hymn  to  Death  " — stately,  majestic,  consolatory — concludes 
with  a  touching  tribute  to  the  worth  of  his  good  father,  who 
died  while  he  was  writing  it,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four.  The 
year  1821  was  an  important  one  to  Mr.  Bryant,  for  it  witnessed 
the  publication  of  his  first  collection  of  verse,  his  marriage, 
and  the  death  of  his  father. 

The  next  four  years  of  Mr.  Bryant's  lif e  were  more  produc- 
tive than  any  that  had  preceded  them,  for  he  wrote  upward  of 
thirty  poems  during  that  time.  The  aboriginal  element  was 
creative  in  "  The  Indian  Girl's  Lament,"  "  An  Indian  Story," 
"  An  Indian  at  the  Burial-Place  of  his  Fathers,"  and,  noblest 
of  all,  "  Monument  Mountain ; "  the  Hellenic  element  pre- 
dominated in  "  The  Massacre  at  Scio  "  and  «  The  Song  of  the 
Greek  Amazon ; "  the  Hebraic  element  touched  him  lightly 
in  "  Kizpah  "  and  the  "  Song  of  the  Stars ; "  and  the  pure 
poetic  element  was  manifest  in  "March,"  "The  Kivulet" 
(which,  by  the  way,  ran  through  the  grounds  of  the  old  home- 
stead at  Cummington),  "After  a  Tempest,"  "The  Murdered 
Traveler,"  "Hymn  to  the  North  Star,"  "A  Forest  Hymn," 
"  O  fairest  of  the  rural  maids,"  and  the  exquisite  and  now 
most  pathetic  poem,  "June."  These  poems  and  others  not 
specified  here,  if  read  continuously  and  in  the  order  in  which 
they  were  composed,  show  a  wide  range  of  sympathies,  a  per- 


MEMOIR.  ixi 

feet  acquaintance  with  many  measures,  and  a  clear,  capacious, 
ever-growing  intellect.  They  are  all  distinctive  of  the  genius 
of  their  author,  but  neither  exhibits  the  full  measure  of  his 
powers.  We  can  say  of  none  of  them,  "  The  man  who  wrote 
this  will  never  write  any  better." 

The  publication  of  Mr.  Bryant's  little  volume  of  verse  was 
indirectly  the  cause  of  his  adopting  literature  as  a  profession. 
It  was  warmly  commended,  and  by  no  one  more  so  than  by  Mr. 
Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  in  the  columns  of  the  New  York  Ameri- 
can. He  was  something  of  a  literary  authority  at  the  time,  a 
man  of  fortune  and  college-bred,  known  in  a  mild  way  as  the 
author  of  an  anniversary  discourse  delivered  before  the  New 
York  Historical  Society  in  1818,  of  a  political  satire  entitled 
"  The  Bucktail  Bards,"  and  later  of  an  "  Essay  on  the  Doc- 
trine of  Contracts."  Among  his  friends  was  Mr.  Henry  D. 
Sedgwick,  a  summer  neighbor,  so  to  speak,  of  Mr.  Bryant's, 
having  a  country-house  at  Stockbridge,  a  few  miles  from  Great 
Barrington,  and  a  house  in  town,  which  was  frequented  by  the 
literati  of  the  day,  such  as  Verplanck,  Halleck,  Percival,  Coo- 
per, and  others  of  less  note.  An  admirer  of  Mr.  Bryant,  Mr. 
Sedgwick  set  to  work,  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Yerplanck, 
to  procure  him  literary  employment  in  New  York,  in  order  to 
enable  him  to  escape  his  hated  bondage  to  the  law ;  and  he 
was  appointed  assistant  editor  of  a  projected  periodical  called 
the  New  York  Review  and  Athenwwm  Magazine.  The  at  last 
enfranchised  lawyer  dropped  his  barbarous  pen,  closed  his 
law-books,  and  in  the  winter  or  spring  of  1825  removed  with 
his  household  to  New  York.  The  projected  periodical  was 


XX11  MEMOIR. 

started,  as  these  sanguine  ventures  always  are,  with  fair  hopes 
of  success.  It  was  well  edited,  and  its  contributors  were  men 
of  acknowledged  ability.  The  June  number  contained  two 
poems  which  ought  to  have  made  a  great  hit.  One  was  "  A 
Song  of  Pitcairn's  Island  ; "  the  other  was  "Marco  Bozzaris." 
There  was  no  flourish  of  trumpets  over  them,  as  there  would 
be  now ;  the  writers  merely  prefixed  their  initials,  "  B."  and 
"  H."  The  reading  public  of  New  York  were  not  ready  for 
the  fieview,  which  had  been  projected  for  their  mental  enlight- 
enment ;  so,  after  about  a  year's  struggle,  it  was  merged  in  the 
New  York  Literary  Gazette,  which  began  its  mission  about 
four  years  before.  This  magazine  shared  the  fate  of  its  com- 
panion in  a  few  months,  when  it  was  consolidated  with  the 
United  States  Literary  Gazette,  which  in  two  months  was 
swallowed  up  in  the  United  States  Review.  The  honor  of 
publishing  and  finishing  the  last  was  shared  by  Boston  and 
New  York.  Profit  in  these  publications  there  was  none, 
though  Bryant,  Halleck,  Willis,  Dana,  Bancroft,  and  Longfel- 
low wrote  for  them.  Too  good,  or  not  good  enough,  they 
lived  and  died  prematurely.  Mr.  Bryant's  success  as  a  metro- 
politan man  of  letters  was  not  brilliant  so  far ;  but  there  were 
other  walks  than  those  of  pure  literature  open  to  him,  as  to 
others,  and  into  one  of  the  most  bustling  of  these  he  entered 
in  his  thirty-second  year.  In  other  words,  he  became  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  Evening  Post.  Henceforth  he  was  to  live 
by  journalism. 

Journalism,  though  an  exacting  pursuit,  leaves  its  skillful 
followers  a  little  leisure  in  which  to  cultivate  literature.     It 


MEMOIR.  xxiii 

was  the  heyday  of  those  ephemeral  trifles,  Annuals,  and  Mr. 
Bryant  found  time  to  edit  one,  with  the  assistance  of  his  friend 
Mr.  Verplanck,  and  his  acquaintance  Mr.  Kobert  C.  Sands 
(who,  by  the  way,  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Commercial 
Advertiser),  and  a  very  creditable  work  it  was.  His  contribu- 
tions to  "The  Talisman"  included  some  of  his  best  poems. 
Poetry  was  the  natural  expression  of  his  genius— a  fact  which 
he  could  never  understand,  for  it  always  seemed  to  him  that 
prose  was  the  natural  expression  of  all  mankind.  Hi  a  prose 
was,  and  always  continued  to  be,  masterly.  Its  earliest  exam- 
ples, outside  of  his  critical  papers  in  the  North  American 
Review  and  other  periodicals  (and  outside  of  the  Evening  Post, 
of  course),  are  two  stories  entitled  "Medfield"  and  "The 
Skeleton's  Cave,"  contributed  by  him  to  "  Tales  of  the  Glauber 
Spa  "  (1832) — a  collection  of  original  stories  by  Mr.  James  K. 
Paulding,  Mr.  Yerplanck,  Mr.  Sands,  Mr.  "William  Leggett, 
and  Miss  Catharine  Sedgwick.  Three  years  before  (1828)  he 
had  become  the  chief  editor  of  the  Evening  Post.  Associated 
with  him  was  Mr.  Leggett,  who  had  shown  some  talent  as  a 
writer  of  sketches  and  stories,  and  who  had  failed,  like  himself, 
in  conducting  a  critical  publication,  for  which  his  countrymen 
were  not  ready.  He  made  a  second  collection  of  his  poems  at 
this  time  (1832),  a  copy  of  which  was  sent  by  Mr.  Yerplanck 
to  Mr.  "Washington  Irving,  who  was  then,  what  he  had  been 
for  years,  the  idol  of  English  readers,  and  not  without  weight 
with  the  Trade.  Would  he  see  if  some  English  house  would 
not  reprint  it  ?  No  leading  publisher  nibbled  at  it,  not  even 
Murray,  who  was  Mr.  Irving's  publisher ;  but  an  obscure  book- 


XXIV  MEMOIR. 

seller  named  Andrews  finally  agreed  to  undertake  it,  if  Mr. 
Irving  would  put  his  valuable  name  on  the  title-page  as  the 
editor.  He  was  not  acquainted  with  Mr.  Bryant,  but  he  was  a 
kind-hearted,  large-souled  gentleman,  who  knew  good  poetry 
when  he  saw  it,  and  he  consented  to  "  edit "  the  book.  He 
was  not  a  success  in  the  estimation  of  Andrews,  who  came  to 
him  one  day,  by  no  means  a  merry  Andrew,  and  declared  that 
the  book  would  ruin  him  unless  one  or  more  changes  were 
made  in  the  text.  What  was  amiss  in  it  ?  He  turned  to  the 
"Song  of  Marion's  Men,"  and  stumbled  over  an  obnoxious 
couplet  in  the  first  stanza : 

"  The  British  soldier  trembles 
When  Marion's  name  is  told." 

"That  won't  do  at  all,  you  know."  The  absurdity  of  the 
objection  must  have  struck  the  humorist  comically ;  but  as  he 
wanted  the  volume  republished,  he  good-naturedly  saved  the 
proverbial  valor  of  the  British  soldier  by  changing  the  first 

line  to 

"  The  foeman  trembles  in  his  camp," 

and  the  tempest  in  a  teapot  was  over,  as  far  as  England  was 
concerned.  Not  as  far  as  the  United  States  was  concerned, 
however;  for  when  the  circumstance  became  known  to  Mr. 
Leggett,  he  excoriated  Mr.  Irving  for  his  subserviency  to  a 
bloated  aristocracy,  and  so  forth.  Mr.  John  "Wilson  reviewed 
the  book  in  BlackwoocFs  Magazvne  in  a  half-hearted  way, 
patronizing  the  writer  with  his  praise. 

The  poems  that  Mr.  Bryant  wrote  during  the  first  seven 


MEMOIR.  XXV 

years  of  his  residence  in  New  York  (some  forty  in  number,  not 
including  translations)  exhibited  the  qualities  which  distin- 
guished his  genius  from  the  beginning,  and  were  marked  by 
characteristics  which  were  rather  acquired  than  inherited.  In 
other  words,  they  were  somewhat  different  from  those  which 
were  written  at  Great  Barrington.  The  Hellenic  element  was 
still  visible  in  "  The  Greek  Partisan"  and  « The  Greek  Boy," 
and  the  aboriginal  element  in  "The  Disinterred  Warrior." 
The  large  imagination  of  "  The  Hymn  to  the  North  Star  "  was 
radiant  in  "The  Firmament,"  and  in  "The  Past."  Ardent 
love  of  nature  found  expressive  utterance  in  "  Lines  on  Revis- 
iting the  Country,"  "The  Gladness  of  Nature,"  "A  Summer 
Ramble,"  "  A  Scene  on  the  Banks  of  the  Hudson,"  and  "  The 
Evening  Wind."  The  little  book  of  immortal  dirges  had  a 
fresh  leaf  added  to  it  in  "  The  Death  of  the  Flowers,"  which 
was  at  once  a  pastoral  of  autumn  and  a  monody  over  a  beloved 
sister.  A  new  element  appeared  in  "The  Summer  Wind," 
and  was  always  present  afterward  in  Mr.  Bryant's  meditative 
poetry — the  association  of  humanity  with  nature — a  calm  but 
sympathetic  recognition  of  the  ways  of  man  and  his  presence 
on  the  earth.  The  power  of  suggestion  and  of  rapid  general- 
ization, which  was  the  key-note  of  "  The  Ages,"  lived  anew  in 
every  line  of  "  The  Prairies,"  in  which  a  series  of  poems  pre- 
sent themselves  to  the  imagination  as  a  series  of  pictures  in  a 
gallery — pictures  in  which  breadth  and  vigor  of  treatment  and 
exquisite  delicacy  of  detail  are  everywhere  harmoniously  blend- 
ed, and  the  unity  of  pure  Art  is  attained.  It  was  worth  going 
to  the  ends  of  the  world  to  be  able  to  write  "  The  Prairies." 


MEMOIR. 

Confiding  in  the  discretion  of  his  associate  Mr.  Leggett, 
and  anxious  to  escape  from  his  daily  editorial  labors,  Mr.  Bry- 
ant sailed  for  Europe  with  his  family  in  the  summer  of  1834. 
It  was  his  intention  to  perfect  his  literary  studies  while  abroad, 
and  to  devote  himself  to  the  education  of  his  children ;  but  his 
intention  was  frustrated,  after  a  short  course  of  travel  in  France, 
Germany,  and  Italy,  by  the  illness  of  Mr.  Leggett,  whose  mis- 
taken zeal  in  the  advocacy  of  unpopular  measures  had  seriously 
injured  the  Evening  Post.  He  returned  in  haste  early  in 
1836,  and  devoted  his  time  and  energies  to  restoring  the  pros- 
perity of  his  paper.  Nine  years  passed  before  he  ventured  to 
return  to  Europe,  though  he  managed  to  visit  certain  portions 
of  his  own  country.  His  readers  tracked  his  journeys  through 
the  letters  which  he  wrote  to  the  Evening  Post,  and  which 
were  noticeable  for  justness  of  observation  and  clearness  of 
expression.  A  selection  from  Mr.  Bryant's  foreign  and  home 
letters  was  published  in  1852,  under  the  title  of  "  Letters  of  a 
Traveler." 

The  life  of  a  man  of  letters  is  seldom  eventful.  There 
are,  of  course,  exceptions  to  the  rule ;  for  literature,  like  other 
polite  professions,  is  never  without  its  disorderly  followers.  It 
is  instructive  to  trace  their  careers,  "which  are  usually  short 
ones ;  but  the  contemplation  of  the  calm,  well-regulated,  self- 
respecting  lives  of  the  elder  and  wiser  masters  is  much  more 
satisfactory.  We  pity  the  Maginns,  and  Mangans,  and  Poes, 
whom  we  have  always  with  us ;  but  we  admire  and  reverence 
such  writers  as  Wordsworth,  and  Thackeray,  and  Bryant,  who 
dignify  their  high  calling.  The  last  thirty  years  of  the  life  of 


MEMOIR.  XXVll 

Mr.  Bryant  were  devoid  of  incidents,  though  one  of  them 
(1866)  was  not  without  the  supreme  sorrow — death.  He  de- 
voted himself  to  journalism  as  conscientiously  as  if  he  still  had 
his  spurs  to  win,  discussing  all  public  questions  with  indepen- 
dence and  fearlessness ;  and  from  time  to  time,  as  the  spirit 
moved  him,  he  added  to  our  treasures  of  song,  contributing  to 
the  popular  magazines  of  the  period,  and  occasionally  issuing 
these  contributions  in  separate  volumes.  He  published  "  The 
Fountain  and  Other  Poems"  in  1842;  "The  White-Footed 
Deer  and  Other  Poems "  in  1844 ;  a  collected  edition  of  his 
poems,  with  illustrations  by  Leutze,  in  1846 ;  an  edition  in  two 
volumes  in  1855 ;  "  Thirty  Poems "  in  1866 ;  and  in  1876 
a  complete  illustrated  edition  of  his  poetical  writings.  To 
the  honors  which  these  volumes  brought  him  he  added  fresh 
laurels  in  1870  and  1871  by  the  publication  of  his  translation 
of  the  "  Iliad  "  and  the  "  Odyssey  " — a  translation  which  was 
highly  praised  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  which,  if  not 
the  best  that  the  English  language  is  capable  of,  is,  in  many 
respects,  the  best  which  any  English-writing  poet  has  yet 
produced. 

There  comes  a  day  in  the  intellectual  lives  of  most  poets 
when  their  powers  cease  to  be  progressive  and  productive,  or 
are  productive  only  in  the  forms  to  which  they  have  accus- 
tomed themselves,  and  which  have  become  mannerisms.  It 
was  not  so  with  Mr.  Bryant.  He  enjoyed  the  dangerous  dis- 
tinction of  proving  himself  a  great  poet  at  an  early  age ;  he 
preserved  this  distinction  to  the  last,  for  the  sixty-four  years 
which  elapsed  between  the  writing  of  "  Thanatopsis  "  and  the 


XXVlll  MEMOIR. 

writing  of  "  The  Flood  of  Years "  witnessed  no  decay  of  his 
poetic  capacities,  but  rather  the  growth  and  development  of 
trains  of  thought  and  forms  of  verse  of  which  there  was  no 
evidence  in  his  early  writings.  His  sympathies  were  enlarged 
as  the  years  went  on,  and  the  crystal  clearness  of  his  mind  was 
colored  with  human  emotions. 

To  Bryant,  beyond  all  other  modern  poets,  the  earth  was  a 
theatre  upon  which  the  great  drama  of  life  was  everlastingly 
played.  The  remembrance  of  this  fact  is  his  inspiration  in 
"  The  Fountain,"  "  An  Evening  Kevery,"  "  The  Antiquity  of 
Freedom,"  "The  Crowded  Street,"  "The  Planting  of  the 
Apple-Tree,"  "  The  Night  Journey  of  a  Kiver,"  "  The  Sower," 
and  "  The  Flood  of  Years."  The  most  poetical  of  Mr.  Bry- 
ant's poems  are,  perhaps,  "The  Land  of  Dreams,"  "The 
Burial  of  Love,"  "  The  May  Sun  sheds  an  Amber  Light,"  and 
"  The  Voice  of  Autumn ; "  and  they  were  written  in  a  succes- 
sion of  happy  hours,  and  in  the  order  named.  Next  to  these 
pieces,  as  examples  of  pure  poetry,  should  be  placed  "  Sella  " 
and  "  The  Little  People  of  the  Snow,"  which  are  exquisite 
fairy  fantasies.  The  qualities  by  which  Mr.  Bryant's  poetry 
are  chiefly  distinguished  are  serenity  and  gravity  of  thought ; 
an  intense  though  repressed  recognition  of  the  mortality  of 
mankind ;  an  ardent  love  for  human  freedom ;  and  unrivaled 
skill  in  painting  the  scenery  of  his  native  land.  He  had  no 
superior  in  this  walk  of  poetic  art — it  might  almost  be  said  no 
equal,  for  his  descriptions  of  nature  are  never  inaccurate  or 
redundant.  "  The  Excursion  "  is  a  tiresome  poem,  which  con- 
tains several  exquisite  episodes.  Mr.  Bryant  knew  how  to 


MEMOIR.  XXIX 

write  exquisite  episodes,  and  to  omit  the  platitudes  through 
which  we  reach  them  in  other  poets. 

It  is  not  given  to  many  poets  to  possess  as  many  residences 
as  Mr.  Bryant,  for  he  had  three — a  town-house  in  New  York, 
a  country-house,  called  "  Cedarmere,"  at  Eoslyn,  Long  Island, 
and  the  old  homestead  of  the  Bryant  family  at  Cummington. 
He  passed  the  winter  months  in  New  York,  and  the  grimmer 
and  early  autumn  months  at  his  country-houses.  No  distin- 
guished man  in  America  was  better  known  by  sight  than  he. 

"  O  good  gray  head  that  all  men  knew  " 

rose  unbidden  to  one's  lips  as  he  passed  his  fellow-pedestrians 
in  the  streets  of  the  great  city,  active,  alert,  with  a  springing 
step  and  a  buoyant  gait.  He  was  seen  in  all  weathers,  walking 
down  to  his  office  in  the  morning,  and  back  to  his  house  in 
the  afternoon — an  observant  antiquity,  with  a  majestic  white 
beard,  a  pair  of  sharp  eyes,  and  a  face  which,  noticed  closely, 
recalled  the  line  of  the  poet : 

"  A  million  wrinkles  carved  his  skin." 

Mr.  Bryant  had  a  peculiar  talent,  in  which  the  French 
excel — the  talent  of  delivering  discourses  upon  the  lives  and 
writings  of  eminent  men ;  and  he  was  always  in  request  after 
the  death  of  his  contemporaries. 

Beginning  with  a  eulogy  on  his  friend  Cole,  the  painter, 
who  died  in  1848,  he  paid  his  well-considered  tributes  to  the 
memory  of  Cooper  and  Irving,  and  assisted  at  the  dedication 
in  the  Central  Park  of  the  Morse,  Shakespeare,  Scott,  and  Hal- 


XXX  MEMOIR. 

leek  monuments.  His  addresses  on  those  occasions,  and  others 
that  might  be  named,  were  models  of  justice  of  appreciation 
and  felicity  of  expression.  His  last  public  appearance  was  at 
the  Central  Park,  on  the  afternoon  of  May  29,  1878,  at  the 
unveiling  of  a  statue  to  Mazzini.  It  was  an  unusually  hot 
day,  and  after  delivering  his  address,  which  was  remarkable 
for  its  eloquence,  he  accompanied  General  James  Grant  "Wil- 
son, an  acquaintance  of  some  years'  standing,  to  his  residence 
in  East  Seventy-fourth  street.  General  Wilson  reached  his 
door  with  Mr.  Bryant  leaning  on  his  arm ;  he  took  a  step  in 
advance  to  open  the  inner  door,  and  while  his  back  was  turned 
the  poet  fell,  striking  his  head  on  the  stone  platform  of  the 
front  steps.  It  was  his  death-blow ;  for,  though  he  recovered 
his  consciousness  sufficiently  to  converse  a  little,  and  was  able 
to  ride  to  his  own  house  with  General  Wilson,  his  fate  was 
sealed.  He  lingered  until  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  June, 
when  his  capacious  spirit  passed  out  into  the  Unknown.  Two 
days  later  all  that  was  mortal  of  him  was  buried  beside  the 
grave  of  his  wife  at  Roslyn. 

Such  was  the  life  and  such  the  life-work  of  William  Cullen 
Bryant. 

R.  H.  STODDARD. 


CHRONOLOGIES  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE  AND  POEMS, 

A  BIBLIOGEAPHY  OF  HIS  POETICAL  AND 

PROSE  WRITINGS,  ETC. 

COMPILED  BY  HENRY  C.  STURGES. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

FOUNDED  ON  PARKE  GODWIN'S  BIOGRAPHY  OF  BRYANT. 

So  live,  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan,  that  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry-slave  at  night, 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but,  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave, 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams. 

1794. 

WILLIAM  CULLEK  BEY  ANT  was  born  at  Cummington,  Mas- 
sachusetts, November  3d  of  this  year.  In  regard  to  the  exact 
site  of  the  house  in  which  he  was  born,  Mr.  Bryant  says,  in  a 
statement  printed  in  Parke  Godwin's  biography  of  him :  "  My 
father  and  mother  then  lived  in  a  house,  which  stands  no 
longer,  near  the  center  of  the  township,  amid  fields  which  have 
a  steep  slope  to  the  north  fork  of  the  Westfield  River,  a  shallow 
stream  brawling  over  a  bed  of  loose  stones  in  a  very  narrow 
valley.  A  few  old  apple-trees  mark  the  spot  where  the  house 
stood,  and  opposite,  on  the  other  side  of  the  way,  is  a  grave- 
yard in  which  sleep  some  of  those  who  came  to  Cummington 
while  it  was  yet  a  forest.  It  was  a  small  house  constructed 
of  square  logs,  afterward  removed  and  placed  near  that  occu- 
pied by  Daniel  Dawes.  On  my  first  birthday  there  is  a  record 
that  I  could  already  go  alone,  and  on  the  28th  of  March,  1796, 
when  but  a  few  days  more  than  sixteen  months  old,  there  is 
another  record  that  I  knew  all  the  letters  of  the  alphabet." 

1797. 

In  September  of  this  year  the  family  moved  to  Plainfield. 
"  The  poet  was  puny  and  very  delicate  in  body,  and  of  a  pain- 

3  xxxiii 


XXXIV  CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

fully  nervous  temperament,"  said  Senator  Dawes  in  his  Cen- 
tennial Address,  at  Cummington,  in  June,  1879.  "  In  a  few- 
years,  when  he  had  become  famous,  those  who  had  been  medi- 
cal students  with  his  father  when  he  was  struggling  for  exist- 
ence with  the  odds  very  much  against  him,  delighted  to  tell  of 
the  cold  baths  they  were  ordered  to  give  the  infant  poet  in  a 
spring  near  the  house  each  early  morning  of  the  summer 
months,  continuing  the  treatment  in  spite  of  the  outcries  and 
protestations  of  their  patient,  so  late  into  the  autumn  as  some- 
times to  break  the  ice  which  skimmed  the  surface." 

Long  years  afterward  Mr.  Bryant  wrote :  "  I  have  lately 
been  to  look  at  the  site  of  that  house.  Nothing  is  left  of  it 
but  the  cellar  and  some  portion  of  the  chimney  among  a  thick 
growth  of  brambles." 

1798. 

"In  May,"  says  Mr.  Bryant,  writing  of  this  year,  "our 
family  moved  again  to  the  distance  of  about  two  miles,  and 
occupied  a  house  in  Cummington.  Not  a  trace  of  it  now 
remains.  The  plow  has  passed  over  its  site  and  leveled  the 
earth  where  it  stood,  but  immediately  opposite  are  yet  seen  the 
hollow  of  an  old  cellar  and  the  foundation  stones  of  a  house 
where  there  lived  a  neighbor.  From  my  new  abode,  before  I 
had  completed  my  fourth  year,  I  was  sent  to  the  district 
school." 

1799. 

"  In  April,"  continues  the  poet,  "  when  I  was  in  my  fifth 
year,  our  family  went  to  live  at  the  homestead  of  my  grand- 
father on  the  mother's  side,  Ebenezer  Snell,  which  I  now  pos- 
sess, and  which  became  my  father's  home  for  the  rest  of  his 
lifetime.  While  living  at  the  homestead  I  went  with  my 
elder  brother,  Austin,  to  a  district  school  kept  in  a  little 
house  which  then  stood  near  by  on  the  bank  of  a  rivulet  that 
flows  by  the  dwelling.  The  education  which  we  received  here 
was  of  the  humblest  elementary  kind,  stopping  at  grammar, 
unless  we  include  theology,  as  learned  from  the  Westminster 
Catechism,  which  was  our  Saturday  exercise.  I  was  an  excel- 
lent, almost  infallible  speller,  and  ready  in  geography,  but  in 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    BRYANT'S   LIFE.  XXXV 

the  catechism,  not  understanding  the  abstract  terms,  I  made 
but  little  progress." 

1803. 

"  In  my  ninth  year,"  writes  Mr.  Bryant,  "  I  began  to  make 
verses,  some  of  which  were  utter  nonsense.  A  year  or  two 
later  my  grandfather  gave  me  as  an  exercise  the  first  chapter 
of  the  Book  of  Job  to  turn  into  verse.  I  put  the  whole  narra- 
tion into  heroic  couplets,  one  of  which  I  remember  as  the  first 

draft : 

His  name  was  Job,  evil  he  did  eschew. 

To  him  were  born  seven  sons ;  three  daughters  too ! 

I  paraphrased  afterward  the  Hundred  and  Fourth  Psalm." 

1804-1806. 

"  In  the  Spring  of  1804,"  Mr.  Bryant  says  further,  in  a  pas- 
sage given  by  Mr.  Godwin,  "  when  I  was  ten  years  old  I  com- 
posed a  little  poem,  the  subject  of  which  was  The  Description 
of  the  School,  and  which  I  declaimed  on  the  schoolroom  floor. 
It  was  afterward  printed  in  the  Hampshire  Gazette,  the 
county  newspaper  published  at  Northampton.  Meantime  I 
wrote  various  lampoons  on  my  schoolfellows  and  others,  and 
when  the  great  eclipse  of  the  sun  took  place  in  June,  1806, 1 
celebrated  the  event  in  verse.  So  my  time  passed  in  study, 
diversified  with  labor  and  recreation.  In  the  long  winter  eve- 
nings, in  the  stormy  winter  days,  I  read  with  my  elder  brother 
books  from  my  father's  library — not  a  large  one,  but  well 
chosen.  I  remember  well  the  delight  with  which  we  welcomed 
the  translation  of  the  Iliad  by  Pope,  when  it  was  brought 
into  the  house.  My  brother  and  myself,  in  emulation  of  the 
ancient  heroes,  made  for  ourselves  wooden  shields,  swords  and 
spears,  and  fashioned  old  hats  in  the  shape  of  helmets  with 
plumes  of  tow,  and  in  the  barn,  when  nobody  observed  us,  we 
fought  the  battles  of  the  Greeks  and  Trojans  over  again.  I 
was  always,  from  my  earliest  years,  a  delighted  observer  of 
external  nature ;  the  splendors  of  a  winter  daybreak  over  the 
wide  wastes  of  snow  seen  from  our  windows,  the  glories  of  the 
autumnal  woods,  the  gloomy  approaches  of  the  thunder-storm 


XXXVI  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

and  its  departure  amid  sunshine  and  rainbows,  the  return  of 
spring  with  its  flowers,  and  the  first  snowfall  of  winter." 

1808. 

Mr.  Bryant  further  states : "  In  February,  1808,  General  Wood- 
bridge,  of  Worthington,  a  place  about  four  miles  distant  from 
our  dwelling,  died.  He  was  a  promising  and  popular  lawyer, 
held  in  high  esteem  by  the  Federal  party  to  which  he  belonged, 
and  was  much  lamented.  My  father  suggested  this  event  as  a 
subject  for  a  monody.  I  composed  one  beginning  with  these 

lines : 

The  word  is  given — the  cruel  arrow  flies 
With  death  foreboding  aim,  and  Woodbridge  dies ! 
Lo !  Hampshire's  genius  bending  o'er  his  bier 
In  silent  sorrow  heaves  the  sigh  sincere ! 

"  About  this  time  the  animosity  with  which  the  two  polit- 
ical parties — Federalists  and  Eepublicans  as  they  called  them- 
selves— regarded  each  other  was  at  its  height.  My  father  was 
a  Federalist,  and  his  skill  in  his  profession  gave  him  great 
influence  in  Cummington  and  the  neighboring  county.  I  read 
the  newspapers  of  the  Federal  party,  and  took  a  strong  interest 
in  political  questions.  Under  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration, 
in  consequence  of  our  disputes  with  Great  Britain,  an  embargo 
was  laid  in  1807  upon  all  the  ports  of  our  republic,  which,  by 
putting  a  stop  to  all  foreign  commerce,  had  a  disastrous  effect 
on  many  private  interests,  and  embittered  the  hatred  with 
which  the  Federalists  regarded  their  political  adversaries,  and 
particularly  Mr.  Jefferson.  I  had  written  some  satirical  lines 
apostrophizing  the  President,  which  my  father  saw,  and  think- 
ing well  of  them,  encouraged  me  to  write  others  in  the  same 
vein.  This  I  did  willingly,  until  the  additions  grew  into  a 
poem  of  several  pages.  This  poem  was  published  in  Boston, 
1808,  in  a  little  pamphlet  entitled  The  Embargo,  or  Sketches 
of  the  Times— A  Satire.  By  a  Youth  of  Thirteen.  I  had  the 
honor  of  being  kindly  noticed  in  the  Monthly  Anthology,  a  lit- 
erary periodical  published  in  Boston,  which  quoted  from  it  the 
paragraph  that  had  attracted  my  father's  attention.  It  was 
decided  that  I  should  receive  a  college  education,  and  I  was 


CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  xxxvii 

accordingly  taken  by  my  father  to  the  house  of  my  mother's 
brother,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Thomas  Snell,  in  North  Brookfield,  to 
begin  the  study  of  Latin.  I  began  with  the  Latin  gram- 
mar, went  through  the  Colloquies  of  Corderius,  in  which 
the  words,  for  the'  ease  of  the  learner,  were  arranged  ac- 
cording to  the  English  order,  and  then  entered  upon  the 
New  Testament  in  Latin.  Next  the  ^Eneid  of  Virgil.  While 
I  was  occupied  with  the  ^Eneid  my  father  wrote  to  me  ad- 
vising me  to  translate  some  portion  of  it  into  English  verse. 
Accordingly  I  made  a  rhymed  translation  of  the  narrative 
of  A  Tempest  in  the  first  book.  Somebody  showed  me  a 
piece  of  paper  with  the  title  The  Endless  Knot,  the  repre- 
sentation of  an  intricate  knot  in  parallel  lines,  between  which 
were  written  some  homely  verses.  I  thought  I  could  write 
better  ones,  and  my  head  being  full  of  the  ancient  mythology, 
I  composed  this."  (Life,  p.  29.) 

1809. 

"While  I  was  at  my  uncle's,"  the  poet  continues,  "another 
edition  of  my  poem,  The  Embargo,  was  published  in  Boston. 
It  had  been  revised  and  somewhat  enlarged,  and  a  few  shorter 
poems  were  added.  I  went  through  the  ^neid  in  my  Latin 
studies,  and  then  mastered  the  Eclogues  and  the  Georgics, 
after  which  my  uncle  put  into  my  hands  a  volume  of  the  select 
Orations  of  Cicero.  In  the  beginning  of  July,  having  read 
through  the  volume  of  Cicero's  Orations,  I  left  the  excellent 
family  of  my  uncle,  where  I  had  been  surrounded  by  the  most 
wholesome  influences  and  examples,  and  returned  to  Cumming- 
ton,  after  an  absence  of  just  eight  calendar  months.  I  took 
my  place  with  the  haymakers  on  the  farm,  and  did,  I  believe, 
my  part  until  the  28th  of  August,  when  I  went  to  begin  my 
studies  in  Greek  with  the  Eev.  Moses  Hallock,  in  the  neighbor- 
ing township  of  Plainfield,  where  he  was  the  minister.  I  com- 
mitted to  memory  the  declensions  and  conjugations  of  the 
Greek  tongue  with  the  rules  of  syntax,  and  then  began  reading 
the  New  Testament  in  Greek,  taking  first  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John.  At  the  end  of  two  calendar  months  I  knew  the  Greek 
New  Testament  from  end  to  end,  almost  as  if  it  had  been  Eng- 


4^0573 


XXXV111  CHRONOLOGY  OF   BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

lish,  and  I  returned  to  my  home  in  Cummington,  where  a  few 
days  afterward  I  completed  my  fifteenth  year. 

1810. 

"  The  next  winter  I  was  occupied  with  studies  preparatory 
to  entering  college,  which,  for  reasons  of  economy,  it  was 
decided  that  I  should  do  a  year  in  advance ;  that  is  to  say,  as  a 
member  of  the  sophomore  class.  At  this  time  I  had  no  help 
from  a  tutor,  but  in  the  spring  I  went  again  for  two  months  to 
Plainfield  and  received  from  Mr.  Hallock  instructions  in  mathe- 
matics. In  the  beginning  of  September,  when  the  annual  com- 
mencement of  Williams  College  was  at  that  time  held,  I  went 
with  my  father  to  Williamstown,  passed  an  easy  examination, 
and  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  sophomore  class.  After  the 
usual  vacation  I  went  again  to  Williamstown  and  began  my 
college  life.  I  mastered  the  daily  lessons  given  out  to  my  class 
and  found  much  time  for  miscellaneous  reading,  for  dispu- 
tations and  for  literary  composition  in  prose  and  verse.  No 
attention  was  then  paid  to  prosody,  but  I  made  an  attempt  to 
acquaint  myself  with  the  prosody  of  the  Latin  language  and 
tried  some  experiments  in  Latin  verse,  which  were  clumsy  and 
uncouth  enough.  Among  my  verses  was  a  paraphrastic  trans- 
lation of  Anacreon's  Ode  on  Spring : 

So  fragrant  Spring  returns  again 
With  all  the  graces  in  her  train ! 

a  version  of  David's  lament  over  Saul  and  Jonathan,  II  Sam- 
uel i,  19  (Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant,  p.  76) ;  the  version  of  A 
Fragment  of  Simonides,  a  poem  recited  before  my  class ;  also 
an  Indian  war-song : 

Ghosts  of  my  wounded  brethren,  rest ; 
Shades  of  the  warrior  dead ! 

(See  Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant,  p.  90.)  Also  note  by  Mr. 
Arthur  Bryant,  "  I  still  retain  in  memory  fragments  and  entire 
poems  written  about  this  period,  many  of  which  were  never 
printed."  Such  as  the  (Edipus  Tyrannus,  Elegy  on  the  Death 
of  the  Gerrymander,  etc.  (Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant,  p.  94.) 


CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  XXXIX 

The  Gerrymander  was  a  figure  representing  a  monster 
which  the  Federal  newspapers  constructed  from  outlines  made 
on  a  map  of  Massachusetts  by  a  peculiar  arrangement  of  the 
electoral  votes,  which  Elbridge  Gerry  was  said  to  have  so  dis- 
tributed as  to  secure  a  Legislature  which  would  elect  him  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  To  this  period  in  Bryant's  life  belong 
the  translations  of  Lucian's  Dialogues  of  the  Dead;  also  sev- 
eral Odes  of  Anacreon ;  the  lines  of  Mimnermus  of  Colophon 
on  The  Beauty  and  Joy  of  Youth;  An  Idyl  by  Bion  and 
choruses  from  Sophocles.  During  a  school  vacation  in  January, 
1810,  he  wrote  a  patriotic  song  called  The  Genius  of  Colum- 
bia. (For  full  text  of  this  poem,  see  Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant, 
pp.  80-81.)  An  attempt  to  declaim  before  his  class  a  passage 
from  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York  ended  in  his  being 
compelled  to  resume  his  seat  under  the  frowns  of  the  tutor, 
the  humor  of  it  so  convulsed  him  with  laughter. 

1811. 

Under  date  of  May  8th  of  this  year  Bryant  writes :  "  Before 
the  third  term  of  my  sophomore  year  was  ended,  I  asked  and 
obtained  an  honorable  dismission  from  Williams  College,  and 
going  back  to  Cummington  began  to  prepare  myself  for  entering 
the  junior  class  at  Yale.  I  pursued  my  studies  with  some  dili- 
gence and  without  any  guides  save  my  books ;  but  when  the 
time  drew  near  that  I  should  apply  for  admission  at  Yale  my 
father  told  me  that  his  means  did  not  allow  him  to  maintain 
me  at  New  Haven,  and  that  I  must  give  up  the  idea  of  a  full 
course  of  college  education." 

At  this  period  he  read  Cowper,  Thomson,  Burns,  Southey, 
etc.  These  studies,  however,  did  not  win  him  from  his  rambles, 
during  one  of  which  his  thoughts  took  a  shape  that  proved  to 
be  of  the  greatest  consequence  in  his  poetic  growth.  He  had 
been  engaged  in  comparing  Blair's  poem,  The  Grave,  with 
another  of  the  same  cast  by  Bishop  Porteous,  and  his  mind  was 
also  considerably  occupied  with  a  recent  volume  of  Kirke  White's 
verses.  "  It  was  in  the  autumn,"  we  are  told,  "  the  blue  of  the 
summer  sky  had  faded  into  gray  and  the  brown  earth  was 
heaped  with  sear  and  withered  emblems  of  the  departed  glory 


XI  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

of  the  year.  As  he  trod  up  on  the  hollow-sounding  ground  in 
the  loneliness  of  the  woods  and  among  the  prostrate  trunks  of 
trees  that  for  generations  had  been  moldering  into  dust,  he 
thought  how  the  vast  solitudes  about  him  were  filled  with  the 
same  sad  tokens  of  decay." 

In  December,  1811,  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Mr.  Howe,  of  Worthington,  a  quiet  little  village  some  four  or  five 
miles  from  Cummington.  He  congratulated  himself  in  a  little 
poem  on  his  escape  from  the  farm.  (See  p.  103,  Godwin's  Life 
of  Bryant.)  To  this  period  belongs  the  love-song  beginning: 

I  knew  thee  fair  and  deemed  thee  free 
From  fraud  and  guile  and  faithless  art ; 

Yet  had  I  seen  as  now  I  see, 
Thine  image  ne'er  had  stained  my  heart. 

1812. 

Of  this  period  Parke  Godwin  says  in  his  Life  of  Bryant : 
"Carefully  preserved  among  his  papers — and  he  was  for  the 
most  part  inattentive  in  keeping  what  concerned  himself  only 
— are  several  fragments  of  poems  expressive  of  the  joys,  the 
doubts  and  the  disappointments  of  love."  (See  Godwin's  Life 
of  Bryant,  pp.  107-114,  for  text  of  these  love  poems.)  He 
wrote  at  this  time  for  the  Washington  Benevolent  Society  of 
Boston  a  Fourth  of  July  ode,  in  which  are  these  lines : 

Should  justice  call  to  battle 

The  applauding  shout  we'd  raise  1 
A  million  swords  would  leave  their  sheath— 

A  million  bayonets  blaze ! 

Another  series  of  poems  belonging  to  this  period,  and  never 
published  save  in  Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant,  is  called  A  Chorus 
of  Ghosts.  This  was  published  in  the  Xew  York  Eeview  for 
1824  over  the  signature  of  X,  with  several  stanzas  wanting,  but 
since  supplied  by  Mr.  Arthur  Bryant.  (For  full  text  of  these 
poems  see  Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant,  pp.  115-117.) 

1814. 

In  June,  1814,  he  removed  to  Bridgewater  and  resided  with 
his  grandfather,  Dr.  Philip  Bryant,  and  entered  the  law  office 


CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  xli 

of  Mr.  William  Baylies.  To  this  period  belong  the  lines  To  a 
Friend  on  his  Marriage,  in  the  North  American  Eeview, 
March,  1818.  On  the  4th  of  July  he  delivered  a  piece  of 
rhymed  declamation,  deploring  the  folly  and  ravages  of  war, 
and  rejoicing  in  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  then  sent  to  Elba. 
(For  text  of  this  Ode  see  Godwin's  Life,  p.  121.)  On  August  9, 
1814,  he  passed  his  preliminary  examination  for  admission  to 
the  bar  and  received  a  certificate  sprinkled  with  snuff,  instead 
of  sand,  for  which  he  paid  six  dollars.  Mr.  Bryant  was  at  this 
time  completely  possessed  with  the  military  fever.  A  letter 
dated  Cummington,  November  16,  1814,  Mass.  State  Archives, 
reads : 

To  HIS  EXCELLENCY,  CALEB  STRONG,  GOVERNOR  AND  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  OF 
THE  COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASS.  : 

Humbly  representing  that  William  C.  Bryant,  your  petitioner,  being 
desirous  to  enter  the  service  of  the  State  in  the  present  struggle  with  a  pos- 
sible enemy,  etc.,  etc. 

A  severe  illness  prevented  him  from  enlisting,  and  after  his 
recovery  he  penned  an  Ode  to  Death,  beginning : 

Oh,  thou  -whom  the  world  dreadeth — art  thou  nigh 
To  thy  pale  Kingdom  Death  to  summon  mef 

1816. 

On  July  25,  1816,  Mr.  Bryant  was  appointed  adjutant  in 
the  Massachusetts  militia,  but  returned  the  commission  to  the 
adjutant-general  February  8,  1817.  The  treaty  of  peace  signed 
at  Ghent  ended  the  war.  To  this  period  belongs  the  ode  written 
for  the  Howard  Society  of  Boston. 

Oh  taught  by  many  a  woe  and  fear 

We  welcome  thy  returning  wing ! 
And  earth,  Oh  Peace,  is  glad  to  hear, 

Thy  name  among  her  echoes  ring." 

(For  full  text  of  this  poem  see  Godwin's  Life,  p.  137.)  "  On 
the  15th  of  August,  1816,  he  left  Bridgewater  with  his  creden- 
tials as  an  Attorney  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  his  pocket."  He 
now  adopted  the  poetic  form  in  which  he  worked  for  the  rest 
of  his  life.  See  poem  I  cannot  forget  with  what  Fervid  Devo- 


Xlii  CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

tion.  Mr.  Godwin  says :  "  All  his  papers  of  this  period  bear 
witness  to  constant  and  ever  renewed  attempts  in  different 
forms  to  paint  her  (Nature's)  varying  aspects." 

"  He  hums  to  himself  of  flowers,  groves,  streams,  trees,  and 
especially  of  winds  which  abounded  in  the  region  in  which  he 
lived.  Among  other  things,  he  began  an  Indian  story  after  the 
manner  of  Scott's  Highland  Poems,  but  judging  by  the  little  of 
it  that  was  executed,  the  descriptive  quite  overmastered  the 
narrative  parts."  (See  p.  141  of  Godwin's  Life  for  speci- 
mens of  poems  of  that  period.)  "  He  wrote  at  this  time  The 
Yellow  Violet  just  before  leaving  Bridge  water  on  a  visit  to 
Cummington." 

"  Another  poem,  Inscription  for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood, 
published  in  the  Xorth  American  Eeview,  1817,  under  the  title 
of  A  Fragment,  was  composed  in  an  old  forest  fronting  his 
father's  house." 

1817. 

On  December  15,  1817,  he  walked  over  to  Plainfield,  a  town 
seven  miles  from  Cummington  on  the  opposite  hillside.  Mr. 
Godwin  says  in  his  Life  of  Bryant :  "  As  he  walked  up  the 
hills  very  forlorn  and  desolate  indeed,  not  knowing  what  was 
to  become  of  him  in  the  big  world  which  grew  bigger  as  he 
ascended  and  yet  darker  with  the  coming  on  of  night.  The 
sun  had  already  set,  leaving  behind  it  one  of  those  brilliant 
seas  of  chrysolite  and  opal  which  often  flood  the  New  England 
skies.  While  he  was  looking  upon  the  rosy  splendor  with  rapt 
admiration,  a  solitary  bird  made  wing  along  the  illuminated 
horizon.  He  watched  the  lone  wanderer  until  it  was  lost  in 
the  distance,  asking  himself  whither  it  had  come  and  to  what 
far  home  it  was  flying.  When  he  went  to  the  house  where  he 
was  to  stop  for  the  night,  his  mind  was  still  full  of  what  he 
had  seen  and  felt,  and  he  wrote  those  lines,  as  imperishable  as 
our  language,  To  A  Waterfowl : 

He  who  from  zone  to  zone 

Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  certain  flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone 

Will  lead  my  steps  aright ! 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   BRYANT'S  LIFE.  xliii 

"  He  remained  in  Plainfield  eight  months,  and  then  entered 
into  a  partnership  with  George  H.  Ives,  of  Great  Barrington. 
In  June  his  father  wrote  to  him  from  Boston  that  Mr.  Willard 
Philips  (an  old  Hampshire  friend)  desired  him  to  contribute 
something  to  his  new  Eeview.  The  younger  Bryant  either  was 
not  tempted,  or  was  too  busy  to  make  reply.  The  father,  while 
his  son  was  at  Bridgewater,  discovered  the  manuscripts  of 
Thanatopsis,  The  Fragment,  and  a  few  other  poems  carefully 
hidden  away  in  a  desk." 

The  first  number  of  the  North  American  Eeview  appeared 
in  May,  1815.  Mr.  Tudor  acted  as  editor  until  1817,  when  it 
passed  entirely  into  the  hands  of  a  club.  The  chief  members 
were  Richard  H.  Dana,  Edward  T.  Channing,  and  Willard 
Philips.  Edward  T.  Channing  (brother  of  William  Ellery 
Channing)  afterward  became  Boylston  Professor  of  Ehetoric 
at  Harvard  College.  Philips  was  a  tutor  at  Harvard,  but 
became  Judge  of  Probate  and  writer  of  law  books.  Thana- 
topsis was  carried  to  Philips.  Dana  said :  "  Oh,  Philips,  you 
have  been  imposed  upon.  No  one  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
is  capable  of  writing  such  verses."  Thanatopsis  was  pub- 
lished in  September.  Prefixed  were  four  stanzas  on  the  sub- 
ject of  death,  which  had  no  connection  with  it  and  were  not 
intended  for  publication. 

1818. 

In  March,  1818,  Mr.  Bryant  wrote  To  a  Friend  on  his 
Marriage,  Version  of  Simonides,  and  in  July  an  essay  on  Amer- 
ican poetry.  The  department  of  original  poetry  in  the  North 
American  Eeview  was  discontinued  in  1818.  The  essay  on  the 
Happy  Temperament  was  published  in  No.  9,  p.  206.  In  June, 
1818,  he  reviewed  Paulding's  Backwoodman. 

At  Mr.  Philips's  suggestion  he  wrote  an  essay  on  American 
poetry  for  the  July  number,  a  recent  collection  of  American 
poetry  by  Solyman  Brown  furnishing  the  subject.  On  the 
29th  of  January,  1818,  he  delivered  an  address  before  the  Bible 
Society  of  Great  Barrington.  This  was  published  in  the  Berk- 
shire Star  of  February  6,  1818.  In  the  spring  of  1824  the  edi- 
torship of  the  North  American  Eeview  was  changed,  Mr.  Alex- 


lliv  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

ander  and  Edward  Everett  taking  charge.  They  rejected  a 
critique  by  Mr.  Bryant  on  The  Idleman,  and  he  stopped  writ- 
ing for  the  magazine. 

1819. 

Mr.  Bryant  was  interested  in  the  local  affairs  of  the  town  in 
which  he  lived,  and  on  March  9th  he  was  elected  Tithingman 
of  his  native  town,  whose  duties  consisted  in  keeping  order  in 
the  churches  and  enforcing  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 
He  was  also  elected  Town  Clerk  and  appointed  Justice  of  the 
Peace.  (Note. — "  An  old  gentleman  still  living  makes  it  a 
boast  that  he  was  'jined'  to  his  first  old  woman  by  Squire 
Bryant.") 

1820. 

"  On  the  20th  of  March,  Mr.  Bryant's  father,  who  had  been 
ill  for  a  year  or  more,  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-three.  The 
memory  of  this  loss  clung  to  him  for  many  years." 

"  Save  the  fragment  called  the  The  Burial-Place,  begun 
and  broken  off  in  1819,  Mr.  Bryant  had  written  nothing  since 
he  entered  upon  his  practise  in  1816.  The  pieces  sent  to  the 
North  American  Review  were  taken  from  his  scrap-book." 

"  Soon  after  his  father's  death,  while  he  was  yet  full  of  the 
sentiment  it  inspired,  an  appeal  was  made  to  him  by  the  Uni- 
tarians in  aid  of  a  collection  of  hymns.  Mr.  Henry  D.  Sewall, 
the  editor,  applied  to  Miss  Catherine  M.  Sedgwick,  of  Stock- 
bridge,  to  use  her  efforts  in  his  behalf,  and  the  result  was  that 
six  hymns  were  sent  for  the  collections."  (See  note,  p.  163,  of 
Godwin's  Life.) 

"  On  the  4th  of  July  he  delivered  an  oration  in  the  Stock- 
bridge  church." 

1821. 

Mr.  Godwin  says,  speaking  of  this  period:  "Mr.  Dana's 
project  for  a  periodical  to  be  called  The  Idleman,  and  to  con- 
sist of  poetry,  essays,  criticisms,  and  historical  and  biographical 
sketches,  enlisted  Mr.  Bryant's  warmest  interest  from  the 
beginning.  As  early  as  May,  1821,  Mr.  Channing  asked  his 
assistance  for  it,  suggesting  '  That  a  literary  frolic  now  and 
then  is  the  best  restorative  for  a  conscientious  but  overworked 


CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  xlv 

and  jaded  attorney.'  In  reply  Mr.  Bryant  put  The  Yellow 
Violet  at  Mr.  Dana's  disposal,  and  enclosed  another  piece, 
Green  Eiver.  He  also  contributed  to  it  A  Winter  Piece,  The 
Burial-Place,  and  a  Walk  at  Sunset." 

"  Not  long  after  his  settlement  at  Great  Barrington,  he  met 
at  a  village  sociable  the  young  lady,  Miss  Fanny  Fairchild, 
who  afterward  became  his  wife.  The  depth  of  his  attachment 
was  not  revealed  to  him  until  the  object  of  it  was  temporarily 
called  away.  He  began  to  pity  himself  very  much  in  rhymes — 
Oh  Fairest  of  the  Eural  Maids  is  the  only  one  of  these  poems 
the  author  has  cared  to  print."  (See  note,  p.  167,  of  Life  for 
Another.)  "  On  Miss  Fairchild's  return  they  became  engaged, 
and  on  the  llth  of  June,  1821,  were  married  at  the  house  of 
the  bride's  sister,  Mrs.  Henderson."  (See  letter  of  Mr.  Bryant 
to  his  mother  announcing  the  event,  p.  169  of  Godwin's  Life.) 

"  A  few  months  after  his  marriage  Mr.  Bryant  was  surprised 
by  a  communication  from  the  secretary  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society  of  Harvard  College,  Mr.  U.  J.  Spooner,  requesting  him 
'By  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Society'  to  deliver  the  usual 
poetical  address  at  the  next  commencement."  (See  letter  to 
Mr.  Spooner  dated  April  26,  1821,  pp.  170-171,  of  Godwin's 
Life  ;  also  letter  to  his  wife  dated  August  25th,  pp.  171-172.) 

"  His  poem  called  The  Ages  was  delivered  August  30th  in 
the  Old  Congregational  Church  of  Cambridge.  Before  leaving 
Boston  he  consented  to  have  it  published  with  his  other  poet- 
ical effusions.  The  result  was  a  small  pamphlet  of  44  pages 
published  in  September  and  containing  eight  poems :  The 
Ages,  To  a  Waterfall,  The  Fragment  from  Simonides,  Inscrip- 
tion for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood,  The  Yellow  Violet,  The 
Song,  Green  Eiver,  and  Thanatopsis.  The  October  number  of 
the  North  American  Eeview  contained  an  elaborate  criticism. 
The  entire  collection  was  copied  into  a  selection  of  American 
Poetry,  by  Mr.  Eoscoe,  published  by  Allman,  London,  1822. 
Blackwood  for  June  contained  a  favorable  criticism." 

1823. 

"  The  revolt  of  the  Greeks  from  Turkish  rule  excited  hia 
interest.  In  December,  1823,  he  delivered  an  address  on  the 


xlvi  CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

subject  in  Great  Barrington.    He  also  wrote  a  farce  for  the 
stage  called  The  Heroes,  but  it  was  a  failure." 

His  friends  were  very  anxious  for  him  to  come  to  New 
York.  Henry  J.  Anderson  at  this  time  had  revived  the 
Atlantic  Magazine  (published  for  a  while  by  Eobert  J.  Sands). 
Bliss  and  White,  the  publishers,  paid  him  $500  a  year  and 
authorized  an  expenditure  of  $500  more.  (See  letter  to  his 
wife  from  New  York  under  date  of  April  24, 1824.  Godwin's 
Life,  p.  189.) 

1824. 

Theophilus  Parsons  established  the  United  States  Literary 
Gazette  in  Boston,  publishing  the  first  number  April  1st.  Mr. 
Bryant's  first  contribution  was  a  poem  called  Eizpah. 

A  letter  written  to  his  friend,  Eichard  H.  Dana,  at  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  under  date  of  July  8th,  says :  "  You  inquire 
whether  I  have  written  anything  except  what  I  have  furnished 
to  Parsons  (for  United  States  Literary  Gazette).  Nothing  at 
all.  I  made  an  engagement  with  him  with  a  view  in  the  first 
place  to  earn  something  in  addition  to  the  emoluments  of  my 
profession,  which,  as  you  may  suppose,  are  not  very  ample ;  and 
in  the  second  place  to  keep  my  hand  in,  for  I  was  very  near  dis- 
continuing entirely  the  writing  of  verses."  He  also  mentions 
in  this  same  letter  the  narrative  poem  of  the  Spectre  Ship. 
This  is  partly  extant  in  manuscript,  but  was  never  published. 

His  work  at  this  time  consisted  largely  of  reviews.  See 
North  American  Eeview,  No.  11,  p.  384 ;  Eeview  of  Miss  Sedg- 
wick's  Eedwood.  North  American  Eeview,  No.  19,  p.  42 ;  Poems 
of  Henry  Pickering.  North  American  Eeview,  No.  20,  p.  245  ; 
Eeview  of  Percy's  Masque,  by  James  T.  Hillhouse.  Besides 
these  the  manuscripts  of  many  minor  writers  were  sent  to 
him.  He  was  patient  with  all,  returning  often  elaborate  cor- 
rections and  advice. 

Mr.  Bryant  fixed  two  dollars  apiece  as  his  compensation 
for  these  writings.  The  publishers,  however,  offered  him  $200 
a  year  for  an  average  of  100  lines  a  month,  about  16£  cents  a 
line.  Mr.  Philips's  account,  rendered  in  1826,  shows  that  of 
the  1821  edition  of  his  poems,  750  copies  were  printed  and  only 
270  sold ;  a  profit  of  $15,  minus  eight  cents,  for  five  years'  sale. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

A  note  in  General  James  Grant  Wilson's  Bryant  and  Ms 
Friends,  p.  42,  reads  :  "  The  writer  met  Mr.  Bryant  in  a  book- 
store in  the  winter  of  '78,  and  showed  him  a  copy  of  this 
edition  he  had  just  purchased  for  $10.  Mr.  Bryant  remarked, 
'  Well,  that  is  more  than  I  received  for  its  contents.'  " 

The  poetry  of  the  Gazette  was  republished  under  the  title 
of  Miscellaneous  Poems  in  1826.  See  criticisms  in  North 
American  Eeview,  vol.  xxii,  p.  43,  1826.  Also  Mr.  Bryant's 
own  criticism  of  the  poems  in  New  York  Eeview,  vol.  i,  p. 
389,  mentioning  poems  by  H.  W.  L.  (We  know  not  who  he  is). 

He  did  not  at  this  time  neglect  his  practise  of  law.  He 
argued  cases  at  Northampton,  New  Haven,  and  before  the 
Supreme  Court  at  Boston.  Mr.  Trueman  Smith,  at  one  time 
Senator  from  Connecticut,  says  that  he  was  associated  with 
Mr.  Bryant  in  the  conduct  of  an  important  trial  at  New  Haven 
"  in  which  he  evinced  the  very  highest  learning,  acumen,  and 
assiduity." 

For  report  of  his  last  law  case,  see  Massachusetts  Eeports,  3d 
Pickering,  p.  320.  He  alleged  the  decision  was  not  in  accord- 
ance with  equity,  citing  in  proof  one  of  the  last  cases  in  which 
he  was  employed.  He  lost  his  case  on  an  appeal  to  the 
Supreme  Court.  (Poetical  Works,  vol.  i,  p.  99 — I  broke  the 
spell  that  held  me  long.)  Interesting  data  on  this  period  will 
be  found  in  Godwin's  Life,  pp.  202-204. 

"  His  solitary  brooding  habits,  his  dislike  of  his  occupation 
(law),  his  love  of  the  thickets  along  Green  Eiver  and  the 
Housatonic,  and  his  reticent,  austere  manner  with  strangers 
contrasted  with  his  cheerful,  entertaining,  joyous  ways  among 
his  friends.  He  had  a  strange  fondness  for  talking  with  farm- 
ers, woodmen,  and  stage-drivers.  He  was  a  passionate  bota- 
nist, and  knew  the  name  of  every  tree,  flower,  and  spire  of 
grass.  In  court  he  often  lost  his  self-control  when  provoked 
by  adversaries.  He  was  punctual  in  going  to  church,  but  was 
terribly  prone  to  pick  the  sermons  all  to  pieces.  A  French 
officer  of  Napoleon's  army,  a  friend  of  Lafayette,  named 
Bd*unton,  gave  him  lessons  in  French  and  fencing." 

On  May  llth  of  this  year  Thanatopsis  was  first  published 
in  the  Evening  Post,  with  editorial  note  by  Mr.  Coleman. 


xlviii  CHRONOLOGY   OF   BRYANT'S  LIFE. 


1825. 

"  Mr.  Bryant  visited  New  York  in  both  January  and  Febru- 
ary, 1825 — '  A  literary  adventurer '  he  describes  himself.  He 
was  three  days  and  nights  making  the  journey  by  stage.  The 
population  of  New  York  was  then  about  150,000.  Broadway 
extended  to  Canal  Street,  the  city  limit.  Then  came  orchards 
and  fields.  Greenwich  village,  about  Twelfth  Street,  was  a 
summer  resort.  The  fashionable  residences  were  around  the 
Battery  and  the  finest  shops  were  in  Maiden  Lane. 

"  Mr.  Bryant  became  joint  editor  with  Mr.  Henry  J.  Ander- 
son of  a  new  publication  called  The  New  York  Eeview  and 
Athenaeum  Magazine,  the  first  number  appearing  in  June. 
This  publication  was  an  amalgamation  of  the  Atlantic  Maga- 
zine, which  had  been  started  in  1824  by  Eobert  C.  Sands,  edited 
by  him  for  six  months,  and  sold  out  to  Henry  J.  Anderson,  who 
was  editing  The  Literary  Eeview.  The  first  number  of  The 
New  York  Eeview  and  Athenaeum  Magazine  appeared  May  1st, 
and  contained  a  review  of  a  poem  by  James  A.  Hillhouse,  enti- 
tled Hadad,  and  an  original  poem  by  Bryant  called  A  Song  of 
Pitcairn's  Island." 

In  July  he  visited  Cummington,  writing  the  poems  The 
Skies  and  Lines  on  Eevisiting  the  Country.  In  the  autumn  he 
prepared  four  lectures  on  poetry,  and  delivered  them  before 
the  American  Athenaeum  Society  in  April,  1826. 

1826. 

There  had  been  for  years  in  New  York  an  institution  called 
The  American  Academy  of  Art,  of  which  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull  was  president,  and  of  which  Chancellor  Livingston  and 
De  Witt  Clinton  and  others  were  members.  This  association 
was  managed  by  laymen,  and  the  artists  organized  a  drawing 
association,  November  8th,  which  met  in  the  old  almshouse 
building  behind  the  City  Hall,  January  18,  1826.  This  became 
the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  with  S.  F.  B. 
Morse  as  president.  It  opened  schools  and  gave  exhibitions. 
Mr.  Bryant  was  appointed  one  of  the  professors  and  read  to 
the  classes  five  lectures  on  mythology,  December,  1827; 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  xlix 

repeated  in  February,  1828;  January,  1829;  and  November, 
1831. 

Mr.  Bryant  contributed  largely  to  The  New  York  Eeview 
both  poetry  and  prose,  but  the  publication  was  not  a  success. 
It  ended  with  the  May  number.  It  was  republished  from  May 
13th  to  August  26th,  under  the  title  The  New  York  Literary 
Gazette  and  American  Athenaeum.  This  too  proved  a  failure. 
It  was  then  joined  with  The  United  States  Literary  Gazette  of 
Boston,  and  reissued  October  1st  with  the  new  title  of  The 
United  States  Eeview  and  Literary  Gazette,  under  the  joint 
editorship  of  James  G.  Carter  in  Boston  (afterward  of  Charles 
Folsom)  and  William  C.  Bryant  in  New  York.  Mr.  Bryant's 
contributions  will  be  found  under  their  appropriate  head  later 
on  in  this  work.  This  Review  ran  until  October,  1827,  and  then 
died  a  natural  death. 

Mr.  Bryant  renewed  his  license  to  practise  law  in  the  courts 
of  New  York  in  March,  and  was  associated  with  Mr.  Henry 
Sedgwick  in  the  prosecution  of  a  claim  for  the  recovery  of  part 
of  the  fund  raised  for  the  Greeks.  He  was  asked  to  become 
temporary  editor  of  The  Evening  Post. 

1827. 

"  As  assistant  editor  of  The  Evening  Post  Mr.  Bryant's  life 
from  this  date  became  largely  that  of  a  journalist,  and  refer- 
ence must  be  made  to  the  columns  of  the  above-mentioned 
paper  for  data  of  this  period.  In  politics  he  was  an  ardent 
free  trader,  but  was  never  an  active  politician." 

His  poetical  contributions  to  The  United  States  Eeview 
and  Literary  Gazette  in  this  year  were  few.  He  wrote  a  review 
of  Dana's  poems  for  The  North  American.  (See  No.  26,  p.  239, 
1827.) 

In  the  latter  part  of  this  year  the  first  volume  of  The 
Talisman  was  prepared  under  the  joint  editorship  of  E.  C. 
Sands,  G.  C.  Verplanck,  and  "William  C.  Bryant.  It  was  pub- 
li&hed  in  the  name  of  an  imaginary  editor,  Mr.  Francis  Her- 
bert. The  Talisman  was  continued  in  1829-'30,  three 
volumes  in  all,  and  republished  in  1832  under  the  title  of 
Miscellanies  by  G.  C.  Verplanck,  Eobert  C.  Sands,  and 
4 


1  CHRONOLOGY   OF   BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

William  C.  Bryant.  The  contributions  to  The  Talisman 
will  be  found  under  the  proper  dates  in  the  Chronology  of 
Bryant's  Poems. 

1828. 

On  the  8th  of  January  an  Ode  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Bryant 
at  the  Jackson  dinner  in  Masonic  Hall,  the  Democratic  meet- 
ing place.  This  was  published  in  the  columns  of  The  Evening 
Post  soon  after. 

1829. 

Mr.  Bryant  became  editor-in-chief  of  The  Evening  Post  on 
the  death  of  Mr.  Coleman  in  July.  For  a  time  his  interests 
were  so  concentrated  on  the  management  of  his  paper  as  to 
leave  no  time  for  poetic  composition.  After  a  visit  to  the 
prairies  of  the  "West  in  1832  he  wrote  one  poem,  but  nothing 
else  for  three  years. 

1831. 

In  this  year  he  prepared  a  small  volume  of  poems,  contain- 
ing all  that  he  had  written  since  the  edition  of  1831.  This 
volume  was  most  favorably  received,  and  criticized  by  William 
J.  Snelling  and  Henry  W.  Longfellow  in  The  North  American 
for  April,  1832.  See  also  H.  W.  Prescott  in  the  July  number. 

1832, 

At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Verplanck  a  copy  of  the  poems  was 
sent  to  Washington  Irving  in  London,  and  issued  with  a  dedi- 
cation to  Samuel  Rogers.  For  important  letters  on  this  sub- 
ject, see  pp.  264-274,  Godwin's  Life.  To  Dana  he  writes,  "  I 
printed  a  thousand  copies,  and  more  than  half  are  disposed  of." 
The  reception  of  the  poems  in  England  was  favorable.  (See 
Foreign  Quarterly  Review,  1832,  and  Retrospective  Review, 
vol.  i,  p.  311,  1824.)  John  Wilson  in  Blackwood's  for  April, 
1832,  was  loudest  in  his  praise. 

In  a  letter  to  his  brother  under  date  of  February  9,  1832, 
he  says :  "  If  it  [the  volume  of  poems]  brings  me  two  hundred 
or  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  I  shall  think  myself  doing 
pretty  well." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Dana,  October  8th,  he  says  concerning  his 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  H 

visit  to  the  prairies :  "  I  have  seen  the  great  west  (Illinois), 
where  I  ate  corn  bread  and  hominy ;  slept  in  log  houses  with 
twenty  men  and  women  and  children  all  in  the  same  room. 
At  Jacksonville,  where  my  two  brothers  live,  I  got  on  a  horse 
and  traveled  a  hundred  miles  to  the  northward  over  the 
immense  prairies." 

Before  leaving  for  the  west  Mr.  Bryant  had  arranged  a 
volume  of  tales  called  The  Sextad,  from  the  number  of  au- 
thors engaged  in  it.  Mr.  Verplanck  retired  from  the  work, 
and  the  title  was  changed  to  Tales  of  the  Glauber  Spa,  and 
published  soon  after  his  return.  The  five  authors  were  Miss 
Sedgwick  and  Messrs.  Sands,  Leggett,  Paulding,  and  Bryant ; 
his  own  contributions  consisting  of  two  stories,  Medfield  and 
Skeleton's  Cave. 

Mr.  Sands  died  very  suddenly  this  year,  December  17th,  and 
Mr.  Bryant  wrote  a  short  memoir  of  his  life,  which  appeared  in 
the  first  number  of  The  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  1833. 

1833. 

In  this  year  Mr.  Bryant  wrote  no  poetry.  In  the  summer 
he  went  to  Canada,  visiting  Montreal  and  Quebec.  Just  before 
his  departure  he  was  asked  to  prepare  an  address  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  benefit  to  be  given  to  Mr.  William  Dunlap.  Charles 
Kemble,  Fanny  Kemble,  and  a  young  actor,  Edwin  Forrest,  had 
volunteered  to  appear.  Bryant,  however,  refused.  Among  his 
papers  was  found  a  prologue  for  a  theater  (not  named).  (See 
Godwin's  Life,  p.  293.) 

Writing  to  Dana  (p.  295  Godwin's  Life),  he  says:  "The 
edition  of  my  poems  by  Bliss  is  sold,  all  but  a  handful  of  copies. 
...  I  think  of  publishing  another  edition  soon.  ..."  On  Oc- 
tober 17,  1833,  he  writes  to  Dana :  "  Will  you  see  your  book- 
sellers, Russell,  Odiorne  &  Co.,  and  ask  whether  they  will  give 
me  $250  for  one  thousand  copies  of  my  book."  November  2d 
he  writes :  "  I  have  completed  the  bargain  with  Mr.  Odiorne, 
and  have  given  him  my  book  with  such  corrections  and  addi- 
tions as  I  have  been  able  to  make."  This  edition  was  pub- 
lished at  Boston  by  Russell,  Odiorne  &  Metcalf  in  1834,  and  is 
nowhere  mentioned  in  any  bibliography  of  American  poets. 


Ill  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

A  poem  called  The  Robber  was  suppressed,  but  afterward 
published  by  N.  P.  Willis  in  the  Mirror.  (See  p.  299  of  God- 
win's Life  for  this  poem  in  full.  See  pp.  300-301  for  varia- 
tions in  this  poem  and  The  Prairies.) 

1834. 

On  June  24th  Mr.  Bryant  sailed  for  Europe  with  his  family, 
thus  escaping  the  abolition  riots  which  took  place  at  this  time. 
He  visited  France  and  Italy,  spending  a  month  in  Rome  and 
Florence,  and  came  back  through  the  Tyrol  to  Munich.  It  was 
during  this  trip  that  he  met  Henry  W.  Longfellow  at  Heidel- 
berg, and  enjoyed  some  strolls  with  him  in  the  pine  forests. 

1836. 

Mr.  Bryant  was  summoned  home  by  the  illness  of  Mr.  Leg- 
gett,  assistant  editor  of  the  Post.  He  arrived  in  Xew  York 
March  26th.  A  testimonial  public  dinner  was  offered  to  him 
in  a  letter  from  Washington  Irving,  F.  G.  Halleck,  A.  B.  Du- 
rand,  and  G.  C.  Yerplanck.  This  dinner  Mr.  Bryant  declined. 
(See  correspondence,  pp.  312-313,  Godwin's  Life.) 

On  May  23d  Mr.  Bryant  writes  :  "  I  have  made  a  bargain 
with  the  Harpers  for  publishing  my  poems.  They  are  to  do  it 
in  a  neat  manner,  with  a  vignette  on  the  title-page.  I  have 
written  to  Weir  to  furnish  the  design — '  a  copy  of  a  little  land- 
scape at  West  Point/  They  will  pay  me  twenty-five  cents  a 
copy.  The  work  is  to  be  stereotyped,  and  an  impression  of 
twenty-five  hundred  is  to  be  struck  off  at  first.  For  these  I 
shall  be  paid  $625." 

In  September  he  wrote  to  his  brother  John  in  Illinois:  "I 
think  of  making  some  disposition  of  my  interest  in  The  Even- 
ing Post,  and  coming  out  to  the  western  country  with  a  few 
thousand  dollars  to  try  my  fortune.  .  .  .  My  book  is  out  [the 
edition  of  1836].  It  contains  some  thirty  pages  more  than  the 
last  edition,  and  is  better  printed.  .  .  .  The  practise  of  physic 
is  here  undergoing  a  considerable  revolution.  The  let-alone 
system  is  becoming  fashionable.  I  am  so  far  a  convert  to  it 
that  I  distrust  a  physician  who  is  inclined  to  go  to  work  with 
large  quantities  of  medicine."  This  is  an  allusion  to  his  own 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  liii 

conversion  to  homoeopathy,  to  which  he  adhered  for  the  rest  of 
his  life. 

His  duties  in  The  Evening  Post  occupied  his  full  time,  writ- 
ing the  leading  articles  and  reviews  of  books,  his  office  hours 
being  from  7  A.  M.  to  4  p.  M.  (See  pp.  345-357,  Godwin's  Life, 
for  data  on  this  period  of  great  agitations  on  the  part  of  the 
Abolitionists  and  Bryant's  part  in  it.) 

1838. 

In  June  he  writes :  "  I  have  no  leisure  for  poetry.  To  keep 
myself  in  health  I  take  long  walks  in  the  country.  I  accustom 
myself  to  the  greatest  simplicity  of  diet,  renouncing  tea,  coffee, 
animal  food,  etc.  .  .  ." 

1839. 

Mr.  Leggett  died  this  year,  and  Mr.  Bryant  wrote  a  memoir 
for  The  Democratic  Eeview.  The  elder  Dana  sent  to  Mr.  Bryant 
his  son's  novel,  Two  Years  before  the  Mast.  (See  letter,  June 
24,  1839,  Godwin's  Life,  p.  373.)  It  was  refused  by  all  the  pub- 
lishers, but  finally,  through  Mr.  Bryant's  instrumentality,  Har- 
per and  Bros,  published  it  in  1840. 

1840. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Field,  Mr.  Bryant  writes :  "  We  have  left 
the  house  in  Carmine  Street,  after  inhabiting  it  for  two  years 
and  a  half,  and  have  taken  a  house  in  Ninth  Street,  near  the 
Sixth  Avenue,  not  far  from  Brevoort's  House.  .  .  .  The  greatest 
change  that  I  perceive  in  New  York  is  the  introduction  of  cabs, 
and  mustachios,  and  in  some  instances  beards  as  long  as  those 
worn  by  the  Dunkers." 

1841. 

This  year  he  made  a  trip  with  Cole,  the  artist,  through 
the  Catskill  Mountains.  In  September  he  went  to  Lebanon 
Springs,  and  later,  with  his  young  friend  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
visited  ex-President  Van  Buren  at  Kinderhook.  He  also  vis- 
ited E.  H.  Dana  at  Eockport,  Cape  Ann.  The  Hymn  of 
the  Sea  was  suggested  at  this  time.  (See  note,  p.  391,  God- 
win's Life.) 


liv  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

1842. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  Orville  Dewey  he  gives  a  most  in- 
teresting account  of  life  in  New  York  at  this  time,  and  speaks 
of  making  an  address  before  the  New  Homoeopathic  Society. 
(See  pp.  392-394,  Godwin's  Life.) 

Charles  Dickens  visited  America  at  this  time.  It  was  re- 
ported that  his  first  question  on  landing  was,  "Where  is 
Bryant  ?  "  Mr.  Bryant  called  upon  him  twice  in  New  York,  miss- 
ing him  both  times,  upon  which  he  received  the  note  printed 
in  Godwin's  Life,  page  395.  They  breakfasted  together  at  the 
appointed  time,  there  being  also  present  Fitz-Green  Halleck 
and  Prof.  Charles  Felton,  of  Cambridge.  Bryant  entertained 
Dickens  at  his  own  home,  and  attended  the  public  banquet  and 
ball  given  to  him.  At  this  time  Bryant  published,  through  the 
Harpers,  a  new  edition  of  his  poems,  containing  all  he  had  writ- 
ten since  the  1836  edition.  The  title  of  the  new  book  was 
The  Fountain  and  other  Poems.  There  were  some  twenty  new 
poems  in  all.  Dr.  Channing's  death  occurred  this  year  (p.  404, 
Godwin's  Life).  Mr.  Bryant  contributed  the  hymn  sung  at 
the  funeral. 

1843. 

The  Evening  Post  was  at  this  time  greatly  enlarged  in  size 
and  usefulness.  In  March  he  went  south  to  visit  William  Gil- 
more  Simms,  and  traveled  as  far  as  Florida.  On  his  return  he 
purchased  the  property  at  the  place  afterward  called  Roslyn. 
In  July  he  visited  a  relative  living  in  the  Lake  Champlain 
region. 

1844. 

The  agitation  concerning  the  annexation  of  Texas  brought 
forth  a  letter  in  The  Evening  Post,  August  20,  1844.  (See  pp. 
412-423,  Godwin's  Life.) 

1845. 

On  the  22d  of  April  Mr.  Bryant  sailed  for  Europe  with  a 
young  friend  of  his,  Charles  M.  Leupp.  During  this  visit  he 
met  Samuel  Rogers,  Thomas  Moore,  Leigh  Hunt,  Miss  Joanna 
Baillie,  Mary  Howett,  Cobden,  Bright,  Fox,  and  many  other  men 
of  mark  in  literature  and  art.  He  returned  home  in  November. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  IT 

1846. 

Though  Mr.  Bryant  had  had  leisure  to  write  very  few  new 
poems  since  the  edition  of  1844,  he  still  found  time  to  revise 
those  already  written,  and  a  newly  illustrated  edition  of  his 
poems  was  issued  by  Messrs.  Carey  &  Hart,  of  Philadelphia. 
His  old  friend  Mr.  Dana  passed  criticism  upon  all  those  poems. 
(For  a  very  interesting  correspondence  between  the  two,  see 
pp.  13-18,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.  For  an  interesting  corre- 
spondence at  this  time  between  Bryant  and  Longfellow,  see  pp. 
24-26,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  He  paid  his  last  visit  to  his 
mother  in  the  summer.  She  died  May,  1847,  aged  eighty. 

1847. 

Mr.  Bryant  went  in  the  summer  to  the  White  Mountains. 
(See  pp.  32-34,  Godwin's  Life.) 

1848. 

This  year  was  saddened  by  the  death  of  Thomas  Cole,  the 
artist,  and  on  May  4th  Mr.  Bryant  delivered  a  eulogy  at  the 
Academy  of  Music  before  the  National  Academy  of  Design. 

1849. 

Early  in  this  year  Mr.  John  Bigelow  became  one  of  the  pro- 
prietors and  editors  of  The  Evening  Post.  Mr.  Bryant  was 
now  able  to  travel  extensively.  He  made  a  trip  to  Cuba,  being 
received  in  the  best  society.  Eeturning  to  New  York,  he  sailed 
June  13th  for  Europe.  He  met  with  a  most  cordial  reception 
from  Samuel  Eogers  and  many  others.  He  visited  Scotland, 
including  Abbotsford,  going  to  the  Continent  in  August.  He 
found  armed  forces  everywhere,  and  France  on  the  brink  of 
revolution.  He  visited  Germany  and  Switzerland,  returning  to 
New  York  in  December,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Dana 
prepared  a  volume  of  travels,  issued  by  G.  P.  Putnam  in  1850. 
..He  had  little  time,  however,  for  literary  affairs  outside  of  his 
editorial  duties. 

1852. 

His  friend  Cooper  died  in  1851,  and  on  February  25th  Mr. 
Bryant  delivered  a  eulogy  before  the  Historical  Society,  Daniel 


Ivi  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

Webster  presiding.  On  the  13th  of  November  Mr.  Bryant 
sailed  for  the  Orient,  visiting  Egypt,  Jerusalem,  Damascus, 
Baalbec,  Syria,  etc.  He  returned  home  in  June,  1853. 

1854. 

In  1854  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  had  become  his  pub- 
lishers, and  have  continued  to  issue  his  works  from  this  time 
on.  An  illustrated  edition  of  his  poems,  printed  in  England, 
with  illustrations  by  Birket  Foster,  Dalziel,  Pickersgill,  and 
others,  was  issued  at  this  time,  and  also  an  edition  without 
illustrations  in  two  volumes.  In  regard  to  this  edition  Mr. 
Bryant  says,  writing  to  R.  H.  Dana,  under  date  of  May  26, 
1854 :  "  As  to  my  poems  with  illustrations,  that  is  an  idea  of 
my  bookseller.  .  .  .  But  the  first  thing  which  my  bookseller — 
it  is  Appleton — has  promised  to  do  is  to  get  out  a  neat  edition 
in  two  volumes  without  illustrations.  Though  I  have  as  great 
a  horror  of  illustrations  as  you  have,  they  will,  I  hope,  hurt  no- 
body." The  two  editions  were  accordingly  issued,  one  without 
illustrations  in  two  volumes,  printed  by  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  the 
other  in  one  volume,  with  illustrations,  printed  by  B.  Clay,  Broad 
Street  Hill,  London. 

1855. 

Mr.  Bryant's  life  at  this  period  was  entirely  taken  up  with 
politics,  especially  with  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party, 
in  which  he  was  interested  from  the  first. 

1855. 

The  death  of  the  poet  Rogers  brought  forth  a  most  interest- 
ing letter,  which  will  be  found  on  page  84  of  Godwin's  Life, 
vol.  ii.  Mr.  Rogers,  in  an  interview  with  George  Bancroft,  the 
historian,  said  that  he  "  enjoyed  reading  Bryant's  poems  more 
than  any  other  living  poet." 

The  articles  of  organization  of  the  new  political  party, 
drawn  up  in  Wisconsin,  were  adopted  in  Ohio,  and  ratified  at 
Syracuse  in  September. 

1856. 

Mr.  Bryant  attended  no  political  meeting,  but  at  a  great 
gathering  held  in  the  New  York  Tabernacle,  April  29th,  he 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  Ivii 

gent  a  letter  embodying  his  views,  which  was  read  at  the  meet- 
ing. (See  Godwin's  Life,  vol.  ii,  p.  89.)  Fremont  and  Day- 
ton were  nominated.  The  attack  on  Charles  Simmer  by  Pres- 
ton Brooks  occurred  about  this  time.  (See  contribution  of 
Mr.  Bryant  to  The  Evening  Post,  July  24,  1856,  entitled 
Brooks's  Canada  Song.) 

1857. 

On  May  2d  Mr.  Bryant  sailed  for  Europe,  accompanied  by 
his  wife  and  daughter.  He  traveled  through  Europe  to  Spain, 
where  he  was  offered  great  facilities  through  letters  of  intro- 
duction, given  him  by  Archbishop  Hughes.  Emilio  Castelar 
was  presented  to  him.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four  Castelar  was 
already  professor  of  philosophy  in  the  university. 

1858. 

The  early  part  of  this  year  was  spent  at  Naples,  owing  to 
the  illness  of  Mrs.  Bryant.  Here  he  finished  his  poems  The 
Eiver  by  Night,  The  Sick-Bed,  and  The  Life  that  Is,  a  pendant 
to  The  Future  Life.  A  letter  from  the  Rev.  E.  C.  Waterston 
(p.  108  of  Godwin's  Life)  gives  an  extremely  interesting  ac- 
count of  a  service  held  in  his  rooms,  at  which  Mr.  Bryant  was 
baptized  and  partook  of  the  communion.  His  own  letter  (pp. 
109-113,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life)  completes  the  record  of  those 
days.  In  Rome  he  met  Crawford,  Story,  Gibson,  Chapman, 
Page,  Terry,  Miss  Hosmer,  Frederika  Bremer,  and  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne.  (See  letter  from  Hawthorne,  Godwin's  Life,  vol. 
ii,  p.  112.)  At  Florence  he  met  Hawthorne  at  Robert  Brown- 
ing's. (See  Hawthorne's  letter,  pp.  113,  114,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's 
Life.)  At  Florence  also  he  met  Walter  Savage  Landor,  and 
he  speaks  with  great  pleasure  of  the  wise  words  gathered  from 
his  conversations.  He  returned  to  America  in  August. 

1859. 

*A  He  presided  at  a  lecture  given  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
Mr  Lincoln  said,  "  It  was  worth  the  journey  to  the  east  to  see 
such  a  man."  April  19th  he  speaks  of  visiting  the  new  park 
(Central),  "  in  which  thousands  of  men  are  at  work  blasting 
rocks,  making  roads,  etc."  He  also  speaks  of  meeting  Mr. 


Iviii  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

Cobden,  who  was  in  New  York  at  this  time.  They  had  met 
in  England  in  1845.  The  poems  of  these  times  were  The 
Cloud  on  the  Way,  Waiting  by  the  Gate,  The  New  and  Old, 
and  The  Third  of  November,  all  reflecting  the  gloom  caused 
by  the  death  of  so  many  friends:  Theodore  Sedgwick,  Ben- 
jamin F.  Butler,  C.  N.  Leupp,  etc.  Washington  Irving  died 
in  November. 

1860. 

On  the  3d  of  April  Mr.  Bryant  delivered  an  address  on  The 
Life  and  Character  of  Washington  Irving  before  the  New 
York  Historical  Society.  Bryant's  poems  were  translated  into 
French  by  M.  Le  Chevalier  de  Chatelain,  and  published.  (See 
Bryant's  letters  to  John  Bigelow,  Godwin's  Life,  vol.  ii,  p.  134.) 
He  was  elected  honorary  member  of  the  Boston  Historical  So- 
ciety. (See  letter  from  the  President,  R.  C.  Winthrop,  vol.  ii, 
p.  136,  Godwin's  Life.)  See  letter  from  Rev.  Mr.  Waterston, 
giving  account  of  Mr.  Bryant's  visit  to  him  in  Boston,  and  the 
celebration  of  the  receipt  of  the  news  of  Garibaldi's  and  Victor 
Emanuel's  entry  into  Rome.  November  10th,  he  wrote  to 
President-elect  Lincoln  (see  pp.  150-152,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life), 
and  again  January  21  and  February  5, 1861. 

1861. 

His  work  in  the  cause  of  the  "  Union  "  occupied  the  greater 
part  of  his  time  in  this  year.  The  poems  of  this  period  were, 
Not  Yet,  published  in  July,  and  Our  Country's  Call,  pub- 
lished in  August.  Every  day  was  filled  with  stirring  events. 
A  Word  to  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Union  was  published 
at  this  time.  (See  p.  169,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life,  for  full  text.) 

1862. 

Bryant  continued  his  letters  to  Lincoln.  (See  p.  175,  vol.  ii, 
Godwin's  Life.  Letter  to  Dr.  Dewey,  p.  176.)  In  September 
he  had  an  interview  of  great  importance  with  President  Lin- 
coln. (See  p.  179,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.  See  Evening  Post,  July 
1, 1862.)  In  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  S.  H.  Cox,  D.  D.,  November 
7th,  he  thanks  him  for  a  Latin  version  of  Thanatopsis ;  and  in  a 
letter,  December  3d,  he  thanks  Dr.  Adolf  Laun,  of  Oldenberg, 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  Hi 

Germany,  for  a  translation  of  his  poems  in  the  Sonntagsblatt. 
In  another  letter  of  December  3d,  to  M.  P.  Jonain,  Epaignes, 
Charente  Inferieure,  France,  he  thanks  him  for  the  translation 
of  his  poems  into  French.  In  the  winter  of  1862,  Sella  and 
The  Little  People  of  the  Snow  were  written,  and  he  began 
a  third  poem  called  A  Tale  of  Cloudland,  which  appears  in 
Poetical  Works,  vol.  ii. 

1863. 

On  June  25th  the  office  of  The  Evening  Post  was  attacked 
by  rioters  during  the  draft.  At  this  period  Bryant  wrote  The 
Poet  and  The  Path,  and  began  the  translation  of  the  Odyssey, 
the  fifth  book  being  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly.  A 
collection  of  his  more  recent  poems  was  brought  out  by  D.  Ap- 
pleton  &  Co.,  under  the  title  of  the  Thirty  Poems,  the  transla- 
tion of  the  fifth  book  of  the  Odyssey  being  included.  (See  let- 
ter, pp.  194-195,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  In  this  year  he  deliv- 
ered his  poem  entitled  Fifty  Years,  at  the  semi-centennial  of 
the  class  of  1813  at  Williamstown.  His  poems  were  presented 
to  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  who  sent  his  portrait  to  Bryant. 
(See  letters,  pp.  199-200,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life ;  also  Speech  on 
behalf  of  Missouri  Loyalist,  p.  201.) 

1864. 

The  volume  of  Thirty  Poems  brought  forth  letters  from  H. 
W.  Longfellow  and  E.  H.  Dana.  (See  pp.  206-208,  Godwin's 
Life.)  October  13th,  writing  to  J.  T.  Fields,  of  Boston,  he  says  : 
"I  send  you  a  poem,  My  Autumn  Walk,  for  the  Atlantic 
Monthly.  Ask  me  for  no  more  verses.  A  septuagenarian  has 
passed  the  time  when  it  is  becoming  for  him  to  occupy  himself 
with  The  Ehymes  and  Rattles  of  the  Man  and  Boy."  No- 
vember 15th,  the  Century  Club  celebrated  his  seventieth  birth- 
day with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  (See  pp.  214-220,  vol.  ii, 
(jrod win's  Life.)  He  delivered  an  address  at  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  of  the  new  Academy  of  Design  building. 

1865. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  year  he  wrote  a  letter  To  the 
Union  Army.  (See  pp.  221-223,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  He 


Ix  CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

was  pushing  a  petition  to  abolish  slavery  throughout  the 
United  States,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Everett  for  assistance.  (See 
p.  224,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  At  the  opening  of  the  new 
building  of  the  Academy  of  Design  he  delivered  the  inaugural 
address.  He  wrote  an  Ode  on  the  Death  of  Lincoln,  but 
refused  to  write  a  memoir  of  him.  One  of  the  mammoth  trees 
of  California  was  named  for  him  this  year.  (See  Bryant's 
letter,  p.  233,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  His  poem  on  The  Death 
of  Slavery,  written  at  this  time,  was  brought  forth  by  the 
passage  of  the  Constitutional  Amendment.  (See  pp.  235,  236, 
vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  He  purchased  his  old  homestead  at 
Cummington. 

1866. 

He  says,  February  19th,  writing  to  his  friend  Dr.  Samuel 
Osgood,  in  reply  to  his  request  for  a  hymn  :  "  I  have  written  an 
occasional  poem  at  your  suggestion,  which  is  more  than  I  have 
done  for  any  man  for  long  years,  etc.  ...  In  the  winter  of  life 
the  fountain  of  Hippocrene  crystallizes  into  ice ;  and  if  I  were 
ever  so  young,  occasional  verses  would  be  a  dangerous  experi- 
ment. ...  I  have  more  requests  to  write  than  perhaps  you 
would  imagine,  and  am  forced  to  give  them  all  the  same  an- 
swer." (See  p.  240,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life,  for  important  letter 
to  Dr.  Samuel  Osgood.)  The  poet's  wife  died  on  July  27th  of 
this  year.  (See  Letters,  pp.  244-250,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.) 
In  the  fall  Mr.  Bryant  wrote  the  poem  October,  1866.  (See 
letter  to  J.  T.  Fields,  who  asked  for  verses  for  Atlantic  Month- 
ly, p.  250,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  He  continued  his  translation 
of  the  Odyssey,  writing  forty  lines  a  day,  and  carrying  a  pocket 
edition  of  Homer  with  him  wherever  he  went.  In  October  Mr. 
Bryant  sailed  for  Europe,  visited  Spain  and  Italy,  and  met 
Garibaldi,  whom  he  had  known  in  America.  He  was  invited  to 
go  with  him  to  Naples,  but  could  not  accept,  He  returned 
home  in  August.  (See  pp.  252-263,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.) 

1868. 

He  retired  from  his  office  as  President  of  the  American  Free 
Trade  League,  a  farewell  dinner  being  given  to  him  on  Janu- 
ary 30th. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  Ixi 

1869. 

In  February  he  delivered  an  address  before  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  on  the  life  and  character  of  Fitz-Greene  Hal- 
leek,  who  died  November  19,  1867.  Although  engaged  with 
his  translations  of  Homer,  Bryant  wrote  several  poems  at  this 
period — A  Brighter  Day,  Among  the  Trees,  A  May  Evening. 
Also  a  volume  of  Travels,  Letters  from  the  East,  brief  after- 
dinner  speeches,  and  an  address  at  the  founding  of  the  Metro- 
politan Museum  of  Art. 

1870. 

Vol.  i  of  the  Iliad  was  issued  in  February,  and  vol.  ii  in 
June.  Vol.  i  of  the  Odyssey,  September,  1871 ;  vol.  ii,  March, 
1872.  (See  North  American  Review,  April,  1871,  and  London 
Saturday  Review,  April  23, 1870.)  Mr.  G.  C.  Verplanck  died  in 
March,  and  Bryant  delivered  a  memorial  address  on  May  17th 
before  the  Historical  Society.  He  also  delivered  a  speech 
on  Translators  of  Homer  at  the  Williams  College  alumni  din- 
ner ;  on  the  Franco-Prussian  "War  at  a  German  fair ;  on  Women 
and  Peace  at  a  woman's  convention ;  and  on  Free  Trade  at  a 
Cooper  Union  meeting.  He  made  the  poetical  translations  for 
Mrs.  Theresa  Robinson's  Fifteen  Years,  besides  writing  the 
reminiscences  referred  to  of  Miss  C.  M.  Sedgwick  for  her  Me- 
moirs, prepared  by  Miss  Mary  Dewey.  The  Library  of  Poetry 
and  Song  engaged  his  attention  at  this  time.  His  work  con- 
sisted of  revising,  rejecting,  and  suggesting  other  poems,  and 
in  writing  a  general  introduction.  (See  p.  94,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's 
Life.) 

1871. 

He  passed  the  early  summer  of  this  year  at  Roslyn,  the  later 
part  at  Cummington,  and  the  winters  in  New  York.  In  a  letter 
to  Joseph  H.  Richards  he  says,  March  30th :  "  I  rise  early  at  this 
tjme  of  the  year — about  half-past  five ;  in  summer  half  an  hour 
or  even  an  hour  earlier.  Immediately,  with  very  little  encum- 
brance of  clothing,  I  begin  a  series  of  exercises  for  the  most 
part  designed  to  expand  the  chest  and  at  the  same  time  call 
into  action  all  the  muscles  and  articulations  of  the  body."  (See 
pp.  297-299,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  The  first  volume  of  the 


Ixii  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LITE. 

Odyssey,  in  twelve  books,  was  finished  in  April.  In  January 
he  delivered  an  address  on  Italian  Unity  in  the  Academy  of 
Music.  In  May  he  spoke  at  the  dinner  of  the  Joint  High  Com- 
missioners, who  had  just  completed  a  trade  treaty  between 
England  and  America.  He  also  delivered  an  address  on  the 
Progress  of  German  Literature  at  a  dinner  to  the  German 
ambassador.  He  addressed  an  open-air  meeting  at  the  unveil- 
ing of  a  statue  to  Professor  Morse  in  Central  Park  in  June,  and 
later  on  spoke  on  the  Darwinian  Theory  to  the  Williams  Col- 
lege alumni.  (See  letter,  p.  299,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  On  De- 
cember 7th  he  sent  the  last  of  the  Odyssey  to  his  publishers, 
Messrs.  J.  E.  Osgood  &  Co.  (See  pp.  311-317,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's 
Life,  for  details  of  the  completion  of  this  work.) 

1872. 

After  the  completion  of  the  Odyssey  Mr.  Bryant  went  to  the 
Bahamas,  Cuba,  and  Mexico.  (See  poem,  A  Memory,  p.  318, 
vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  In  Mexico  a  formal  reception  was  given 
to  him,  and  he  was  made  an  honorary  member  of  the  Geograph- 
ical Society.  He  was  treated  with  the  highest  honors  by  Presi- 
dent Juarez  and  all  Mexico.  (See  Bryant's  letter  of  acknowl- 
edgment, p.  322,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  He  returned  to  STew 
York  in  April.  He  presented  a  library  to  his  native  town  of 
Cummington.  1873 

During  these  years  he  made  about  a  dozen  speeches  or  more 
in  behalf  of  the  Home  for  Incurables  of  the  Children's  Aid 
Society,  on  municipal  reform  at  a  great  meeting  in  Cooper  In- 
stitute, for  the  opening  of  the  new  Princeton  library,  at  the 
unveiling  of  the  statue  of  Shakespeare  in  Central  Park  for  his 
English  friends,  and  at  the  erection  of  a  statue  to  Sir  Walter 
Scott  for  his  Scotch  friends,  besides  remarks  at  the  Burns  din- 
ner, the  dinner  to  Salvini  the  actor,  and  elsewhere.  He  pre- 
pared a  volume  for  G.  P.  Putnam  containing  his  orations  and 
speeches.  He  addressed  the  people  of  Eoslyn  on  the  subject 
of  Mexico,  and  went  on  a  southern  tour.  He  was  elected  to 
the  Eussian  Academy,  Baron  Tolsteneff  presenting  his  name  in 
an  eloquent  oration.  In  July  his  address  at  the  opening  of  the 
Princeton  Library  was  delivered. 


CHKONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  Ixiii 


1874. 

He  began  Ms  eightieth  year  with  an  address  on  Franklin 
before  the  Typographical  Society  on  January  17th.  On  Febru- 
ary 24th  he  made  a  speech  at  a  free-trade  mass  meeting  at 
Cooper  Union.  He  wrote  an  introduction  to  a  work  on  Pictur- 
esque America.  On  November  3d  he  was  presented  with  an 
address,  signed  by  thousands,  congratulating  him  on  reaching 
his  eightieth  year.  (See  pp.  348,  349,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.) 

1875. 

A  new  edition  of  the  Library  of  Poetry  and  Song  was  pro- 
jected at  this  time,  and  Mr.  Bryant  gave  it  his  hearty  assistance, 
writing  an  introduction  to  it.  (See  pp.  353-356,  vol.  ii,  God- 
win's Life.)  Bryant  at  this  time  interested  himself  in  a  new 
edition  of  Shakespeare,  writing  a  preface  for  it  when  finished. 
This  was  never  published  owing  to  delay  about  the  illustra- 
tions. He  was  entertained  by  Governor  Tilden  at  Albany,  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature  adjourning  in  his  honor.  He  ad- 
dressed both  Houses-  (See  pp.  357-359,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.) 
He  began  a  poem  on  the  growth  of  New  York,  but  never  fin- 
ished it.  (See  p.  365,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  In  September  he 
delivered  an  address  before  the  Goethe  Society,  and  later  pre- 
sided at  the  breakfast  given  to  Lord  Houghton  by  the  Century 
Club. 

1876. 

He  was  asked  to  write  a  Centennial  Ode,  but  sent  only 
a  hymn  to  be  sung  by  the  choir.  His  poem  The  Flood  of 
Years  was  composed  at  this  time,  and  on  the  20th  of  June 
the  commemorative  vase  of  bronze  was  presented  to  him  at 
Chickering  Hall,  Dr.  Samuel  Osgood  making  the  presentation 
address.  The  Emperor  of  Brazil  visited  New  York  at  this 
time,  and  greeted  Mr.  Bryant  as  an  old  friend,  sending  him  a 
letter,  the  text  of  which  will  be  found  on  p.  373,  vol.  ii,  God- 
win's Life. 

1877. 

He  delivered  an  address  at  the  unveiling  of  the  statue  to 
Fitz-Greene  Halleck  in  Central  Park,  and  on  November  3d 


hdv  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE. 

attended  a  complimentary  reception  at  the  Goethe  Club,  mak- 
ing an  address.    Our  Fellow- Worshippers  was  the  closing  poem 

of  this  year. 

1878. 

In  this  the  last  year  of  his  life  Mr.  Bryant  walked  daily  to 
his  office  and  back,  a  distance  of  three  miles.  He  spoke  at  a 
reception  to  Lord  Duff erin  given  by  the  Geographical  Society ; 
at  a  dinner  given  to  Bayard  Taylor,  recently  appointed  minister 
to  Germany ;  before  the  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Cruelty 
to  Children ;  and  at  a  breakfast  of  clergymen  of  all  denomina- 
tions. On  February  2d  he  attended  the  meeting  of  the  Geo- 
graphical Society,  at  which  Lord  Duff  erin  was  elected  an  hon- 
orary member  on  motion  of  Bayard  Taylor.  On  April  10th  he 
attended  a  "  Commers "  given  by  the  German  Social  Science 
Association  to  Bayard  Taylor.  He  says  of  this  "  Commers  " : 
"  There  were  five  hundred  people  at  fifteen  tables  in  an  immense 
dining  hall,  besides  the  Arion  singers  in  the  gallery,  who,  in  the 
clouds  of  tobacco  smoke  which  ascended  from  the  beer-drinkers 
below,  looked  like  the  gods  on  Olympus  as  they  are  sometimes 
seen  in  pictures.  Beer  and  cigars  composed  the  bill  of  fare, 
and  the  exercises  consisted  of  songs  and  speeches,"  etc.  He 
attended  a  breakfast  at  the  Clergymen's  Club  and  made  a 
speech.  (See  p.  393,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.)  May  27th  he 
wrote  his  last  letter — a  criticism  of  a  poem  sent  to  him  by 
R.  H.  Stoddard. 

On  May  29th  he  came  to  the  city,  spent  the  morning  work- 
ing at  his  desk,  and  in  the  afternoon  drove  to  Central  Park, 
where  he  delivered  an  oration  at  the  unveiling  of  a  statue  to 
the  Italian  patriot  Mazzini.  His  last  words  in  public  were  an 
apostrophe  to  civil  and  religious  liberty  : 

Image  of  the  Illustrious  Champion  of  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty, 
cast  in  enduring  bronze  to  typify  the  imperishable  renown  of  thy  orig- 
inal !  Remain  for  ages  yet  to  come  where  we  place  thee  in  this  resort 
of  millions ;  remain  till  the  day  shall  dawn — far  distant  though  it  may 
be — when  the  rights  and  duties  of  human  brotherhood  shall  be  acknowl- 
edged by  all  the  races  of  mankind. 

He  went  to  the  house  of  General  James  Grant  Wilson  after 
the  ceremonies  were  over  and  fell  on  the  doorstep,  receiving 


CHRONOLOGY   OF  BRYANT'S  LIFE.  Ixv 

injuries  from  which  he  died  on  the  12th  of  June,  after  an  ill- 
ness of  several  weeks.  His  funeral  occurred  on  the  14th  of 
June  at  All  Souls'  Church,  and  the  interment  took  place  at 
Eoslyn.  Thus  as  he  had  wished  the  old  poet  was  laid  at  rest. 

I  gazed  upon  the  glorious  sky 

And  the  green  mountains  round ; 
And  thought,  that  when  I  came  to  lie 

Within  the  silent  ground, 
'Twere  pleasant,  that  in  flowery  June, 
When  brooks  sent  up  a  cheerful  tune, 

And  groves  a  joyous  sound, 
The  sexton's  hand,  my  grave  to  make, 
The  rich,  green  mountain  turf  should  break. 


CHKONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS. 

1803. 

In  my  ninth  year  I  began  to  make  verses,  some  of  which 
were  utter  nonsense.  See  pp.  22-23,  Godwin's  Life,  for  ex- 
tracts from  the  poems. 

1804. 
Description  of  School,  declaimed  on  schoolroom  floor. 

1807. 

Above  poem  first  published  in  the  Hampshire  Gazette  of 
March  18th,  under  the  signature  of  C.  B.,  Northampton,  Mass., 
March  18, 1807.  Other  pieces  of  verse  were  sent  anonymously 
to  the  paper  about  the  same  time,  but  they  can  not  now  be 
identified. 

1808. 

The  Embargo,  printed  in  Boston,  1808. 

1809. 

The  Embargo,  reprinted  1809,  together  with  The  Spanish 
Revolution,  Connecticut  River,  Reward  of  Literary  Merit,  The 
Contented  Ploughman,  Drought,  Translation  from  Horace, 
Carmen  22d,  Book  L 

1810-1813. 

On  pp.  76-82  of  Godwin's  Life  will  be  found  extracts  from 
poems  of  this  period,  which  were  never  published  in  full  or 
recognized  by  Mr.  Bryant  in  collected  editions  of  his  poems. 

1811. 

Thanatopsis  was  written  at  this  time.  See  pp.  98-101,  God- 
win's Life.  Pp.  90-118,  Godwin's  Life,  contain  still  further 
extracts  from  the  unpublished  poems  of  this  period. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS.  Ixvii 

1814. 

The  Yellow  Violet. 

1815.    . 

I  Cannot  Forget  with  what  Fervid  Devotion,  and  The  Hunter 
of  the  West.  To  a  Waterfowl. 

1817. 

Thanatopsis,  published  in  the  North  American  Review  for 
September  17th.  Agricultural  Ode,  delivered  before  the  Berk- 
shire Agricultural  Society.  The  Fragment  (afterward  known  as 
The  Inscription  for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood).  Love's  Power. 

1818. 

Agricultural  Ode,  published.  To  a  Waterfowl,  published  in 
the  North  American  Review  for  March.  A  Friend  on  his  Mar- 
riage, published  in  the  North  American  Review  for  March. 
Version  of  Simonides,  Danae,  published  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  March.  Essay  on  American  Poetry,  published  in 
the  North  American  Review  for  July.  Happy  Temperament, 
published  in  the  North  American  Review  for  July.  The  Burial- 
place,  composed  at  Great  Barrington,  first  published  in  Dana's 
Idleman,  1821. 

1819. 

Green  River,  written  in  Great  Barrington,  published  in 
Dana's  Idleman,  1821. 

1820. 

A  Winter  Piece,  written  in  Great  Barrington,  published  in 
Dana's  Idleman,  1821.  A  Hymn  to  Death,  Great  Barrington, 
published  in  the  New  York  Review,  October,  1825.  Oh  Fair- 
est of  the  Rural  Maids,  written  at  Stockbridge,  published  in 
the  edition  of  1832. 

1821. 

•/The  West  Wind,  published  in  Dana's  Idleman.     A  Walk  at 
Sunset,  published  in  Dana's  Idleman. 


Spain,  written  at  Great  Barrington.    The  Ages,  Phi  Beta 
Kappa,  Poem,  August  30th. 


Ixviii  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS. 

1823. 

The  Indian  Girl's  Lament.  Ode  for  an  Agricultural  Cele- 
bration, written  at  Great  Barrington,  p.  71,  edition  1883. 

1824. 

Massacre  at  Scio,  written  at  Great  Barrington.  March, 
written  at  Great  Barrington  on  March  24th,  published  in  the 
United  States  Literary  Gazette,  June  1st.  Bizpah,  published 
in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  April  12th.  The  Old 
Man's  Funeral,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette, 
May  1st.  The  Kivulet,  written  at  Cummington  in  1823,  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  May  15th.  To 
,  written  at  Cummington  in  1824,  published  in  the  Uni- 
ted States  Literary  Gazette,  June  15th.  An  Indian  Story, 
written  at  Great  Barrington,  published  in  the  United  States 
Literary  Gazette,  July  1st.  Summer  Wind,  written  at  Great 
Barrington,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette, 
July  15th.  An  Indian  at  the  Burial-place  of  his  Fathers, 
written  at  Great  Barrington,  published  in  the  United  States 
Literary  Gazette,  August  1st.  Love's  Seasons,  written  at  Great 
Barrington  in  1824,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary 
Gazette,  August  15th.  I  Broke  the  Spell  that  Held  Me  Long, 
written  at  Great  Barrington  in  1824,  published  in  the  Atlantic 
Souvenir,  1825.  Hymn  of  the  Waldenses,  published  in  the 
United  States  Literary  Gazette,  September  1,  1824.  Monu- 
ment Mountain,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Ga- 
zette, September  15th.  After  a  Tempest,  published  in  the  United 
States  Literary  Gazette,  October  1st.  Autumn  Woods,  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  October  15th. 
Mutation,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette, 
November  15th.  November,  published  in  the  United  States  Lit- 
erary Gazette,  November  15th.  Song  of  the  Greek  Amazon,  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  December  1st. 
To  a  Cloud,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette, 

December  15th. 

1825. 

The  Murdered  Traveller,  published  in  the  United  States 
Literary  Gazette,  January  14th.  Hymn  to  the  North  Star, 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS^  Ixix 

published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  January  15th. 
The  Lapse  of  Time,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary 
Gazette,  February  15th.  The  Song  of  the  Stars,  published  in 
the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  March  1st.  A  Forest 
Hymn,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  April 
1st.  June,  written  at  Great  Barrington  in  1825,  published  in 
the  Atlantic  Souvenir,  1826'.  The  African  Chief,  written  in 
New  York,  1825,  published  in  the  United  States  Review  and 
Literary  Gazette,  December,  1826.  The  Greek  Partisan,  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  May,  1825.  A 
Song  of  Pitcairn's  Island,  published  in  the  New  York  Review, 
June,  1825.  The  Firmament,  published  in  the  New  York  Re- 
view, July,  1825.  Lines  on  Revisiting  the  Country,  published 
in  the  New  York  Review,  August,  1825.  To  a  Mosquito,  pub- 
lished in  the  New  York  Review,  October,  1825.  The  Death  of 
the  Flowers,  published  in  the  New  York  Review,  1825. 

1826. 

Springtime,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette, 
July,  1826.  Mary  Magdalen,  published  in  the  United  States 
Review,  October,  1826.  Meditation  on  Rhode  Island  Coal, 
published  in  the  New  York  Review,  April.  I  Cannot  Forget 
with  what  Fervid  Devotion,  written  at  Cummington,  1815,  pub- 
lished in  the  New  York  Review,  February,  1826.  The  New 
Moon,  published  in  the  New  York  Review,  March,  1826.  The 
Life  of  the  Blessed,  written  in  New  York,  1826,  published  in 
the  New  York  Review,  May,  1827.  The  Journey  of  Life, 
written  in  New  York,  1826,  edition  of  1832.  The  Gladness  of 
Nature,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette.  Mid- 
summer, published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette, 
July.  A  Summer  Ramble,  published  in  the  New  York  Mirror, 
August.  The  Two  Graves,  published  in  the  United  States 
Literary  Gazette,  August.  The  Conjunction  of  Jupiter  and 
Venus,  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette,  Sep- 
tember. October,  published  in  the  United  States  Review 
and  Literary  Gazette,  October.  The  Damsel  of  Peru,  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  Review  and  Literary  Gazette, 
November. 


1XX  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS. 

1827. 

Spring  in  Town,  published  in  the  United  States  Review, 
April.  A  Scene  on  the  Bank  of  the  Hudson,  published  in  the 
Talisman,  1828.  The  Hurricane,  written  in  New  York,  1827, 
published  in  the  Talisman,  1828.  William  Tell,  written  in  New 
York,  1827,  published  in  the  Talisman,  1828. 

1828. 

The  Past,  written  in  New  York,  1828,  published  in  the 
Talisman,  1829.  Upon  the  Mountain's  Distant  Head,  written 
in  New  York,  1828,  published  in  the  Talisman,  1829.  The 
Lament  of  Romero,  published  in  the  New  York  Review,  Feb- 
ruary, 1826,  and  Talisman,  1829.  The  Greek  Boy,  written  in 
New  York,  1828,  published  in  the  Talisman,  1829.  The  Hunt- 
er's Serenade,  written  in  New  York,  1828,  published  in  the 
Talisman,  1829. 

1829. 

The  Evening  Wind,  written  in  New  York,  1829,  published 
in  the  Talisman,  1830.  Love  and  Folly,  written  in  New  York, 

1829,  published  in  the  Talisman,  1830.    When  the  Firmament 
Quivers,  written  in  New  York,  1829,  published  in  the  Talisman, 

1830.  The  Siesta,  written  in  New  York,  1829,  published  in 
the  Talisman,  1830.    Innocent  Child  and  Snow  White  Flower, 
written  in  New  York,  1829,  published  in  the  Talisman,  1830. 
The  Alcayde  of  Molina,  written  in  New  York,  1829,  published 
in  the  Talisman,  1830.    To  the  River  Arve,  written  in  New 
York,  1829,  published  in  the  Talisman,  1830.     The  Death  of 
Aliatar,  written   in  New  York,  1829,  published  in  the  Talis- 
man, 1830.     To  Cole,  the  Painter,  Departing  for  Europe,  writ- 
ten in  New  York,  1829,  published  in  the  Talisman,  1830.     The 
Twenty-second  of  December,  written  for  the  New  England 
Dinner  in  New  York,  published  in  the  Talisman,  1829.     To 
the  Fringed  Gentian,  written  in  New  York  in  1829.     Edition 
of  1832. 

1830. 
Hymn  of  the  City,  published  in  the  Christian  Examiner. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   BRYANT'S   POEMS.  Ira 

1831. 

Song  of  Marion's  Men,  published  in  the  New  York  Mirror, 
November. 

1832. 

The  Prairies,  written  in  Illinois  in  1832,  published  in  the 
Knickerbocker  Magazine,  December,  1833.  The  Arctic  Lover, 
written  in  New  York  in  1832,  published  in  the  Knickerbocker 
Magazine,  January,  1833.  The  Hunter  of  the  Prairies,  written 
in  Illinois  in  1832,  published  in  the  New  York  Mirror,  1834. 

1834. 

Earth,  written  in  Pisa  in  1834,  published  in  the  New  York 
Mirror,  March,  1835.  The  Serenade,  published  in  the  New 
York  Mirror,  February,  1834. 

1835. 

Seventy-Six,  published  in  the  New  York  Mirror,  May,  1835. 
Song,  published  in  the  New  York  Mirror,  July,  1835.  To  the 
Apennines,  written  in  Italy  in  1835,  published  in  the  New  York 
Mirror,  August,  1835.  The  Knight's  Epitaph,  written  in  Pisa 
in  1835,  published  in  the  New  York  Mirror,  September,  1835. 
The  Child's  Funeral,  written  in  Sorrento  in  1835,  published  in 
the  Democratic  Eeview,  1835.  The  Living  Lost,  published  in 
the  New  York  Mirror,  September,  1836.  The  Hunter's  Vision, 
published  in  the  New  York  Mirror,  November,  1835.  The 
Strange  Lady,  written  in  Heidelberg  in  1835,  published  in  the 
New  York  Mirror,  May,  1836.  Life,  written  in  Munich  in 

1835.  Edition  of  1842. 

1836. 

The  Sharpening  of  the  Sabre,  written  in  New  York  in  1836, 
published  in  the  Evening  Post,  July,  1836.  Earth's  Children 
Cleave  to  Earth,  published  in  the  New  York  Mirror,  July, 

1836.  The  Count  of  Griers,  published  in  the  New  York  Mirror, 
January,  1836.     The  Green  Mountain  Boys,  published  in  the 
New  York  Mirror,  November,  1836.     Catterskill  Falls,  pub- 
lished in  the  New  York  Mirror,  November,  1836.    A  Presenti- 
ment, written  in  New  York  in  1836,  published  in  the  New 
York  Mirror,  April,  1837. 


Ixxii  CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS. 

1837. 

The  Battlefield,  published  in  the  Democratic  Review,  Octo- 
ber, 1837. 

1838. 

The  Death  of  Schiller,  published  in  the  Democratic  Review, 
August,  1838. 

1839. 

The  Future  Life,  published  in  the  Democratic  Review, 
March,  1839,  reprinted  in  the  Cypress  Wreath,  1844.  The 
Fountain,  published  in  the  Democratic  Review,  April,  1839. 
The  Winds,  published  in  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  April, 
1839.  In  Memory  of  William  Leggett,  published  in  the  Demo- 
cratic Review,  November,  1839. 

1840. 

I  Think  of  Thee,  written  in  New  York  in  1840,  published 
in  Godey's  Lady's  Book,  January,  1844.  The  Old  Man's  Coun- 
sel, published  in  the  Democratic  Review,  February,  1840.  An 
Evening  Revery,  written  in  New  York,  1840,  published  in  the 
Knickerbocker  Magazine,  January,  1841.  A  Dream,  published 
in  the  Democratic  Review,  December,  1841. 

1842. 

A  Northern  Legend,  written  in  New  York  in  1842,  pub- 
lished in  Graham's  Magazine,  January,  1843.  The  Painted 
Cup,  written  in  Illinois  in  1842,  published  in  the  Democratic 
Review.  The  Antiquity  of  Freedom,  published  in  the  Knick- 
erbocker Magazine,  May,  1842.  The  Maiden's  Sorrow,  written 
in  New  York  in  1842,  published  in  the  Home  Library,  1844.  A 
Hymn  to  the  Sea,  written  in  Cape  Ann,  Mass.,  in  1842,  pub- 
lished in  the  Christian  Examiner,  September,  1842.  The 
Return  of  Youth,  published  in  Graham's  Magazine,  October, 
1842.  Noon,  written  in  Weehawken  in  1842,  published  in  the 
Home  Library,  1844. 

1843. 

The  Crowded  Street,  published  in  Graham's  Magazine, 
January,  1843.  Paradise  of  Tears,  published  in  Graham's  Mag- 
azine, January,  1843.  The  White-footed  Deer,  published  in 
the  Home  Library,  1844. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS. 
1844. 

The  Waning  Moon,  published  in  Graham's  Magazine,  July, 
1844. 

1845. 

The  Stream  of  Life,  published  in  Graham's  Magazine,  July, 
1845.  The  Unknown  Way,  written  at  Eoslyn  in  1845,  pub- 
lished in  Graham's  Magazine,  December,  1846. 

1846. 

The  Land  of  Dreams,  written  in  New  York  in  1846,  pub- 
lished in  Graham's  Magazine,  January,  1847.  Oh  Mother  of  a 
Mighty  Eace,  written  in  New  York  in  1846,  published  in  Gra- 
ham's Magazine,  July,  1847. 

1849. 

The  Planting  of  the  Apple-Tree,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1849, 
published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  January,  1864.  The  May 
Sun  Sheds  an  Amber  Light,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1849,  pub- 
lished in  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  May,  1852. 

1850. 

The  Lady  of  Castle  Windeck.  The  Saw  Mill,  published  in 
Graham's  Magazine,  February,  1850. 

1853. 

The  Burial  of  Love,  written  in  New  York,  1853,  published 
in  Graham's  Magazine,  1854.  The  Conqueror's  Grave,  written 
in  New  York,  1853,  published  in  Putnam's  Magazine,  January, 
1854.  The  Voice  of  Autumn,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1853,  pub- 
lished in  Graham's  Magazine,  January,  1854. 

1854. 

The  Snow  Shower,  written  in  Eoslyn,  published  in  the 
Knickerbocker  Gallery,  1855.  A  Eam-Dream,  written  in  Eos- 
lyn, published  in  the  Crayon,  January,  1855. 

1855. 

Eobert  of  Lincoln,  written  in  Eoslyn,  published  in  Put- 
nam's Magazine,  June,  1855.  The  Twenty-seventh  of  March, 
written  in  Eoslyn,  March,  1855. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS. 

1857. 

The  Lost  Bird,  written  in  Madrid  in  1857,  published  in  the 
New  York  Ledger,  1858.  Euins  of  Italica,  written  in  Madrid 
in  1857,  published  in  Thirty  Poems,  1863.  An  Invitation  to 
the  Country,  published  in  Harper's  Weekly,  May,  1857.  A 
Song  for  New  Year's  Eve,  written  in  New  York,  published  in 
Harper's  Magazine,  January,  1859.  The  Eiver  by  Night,  writ- 
ten in  Naples,  1857,  published  in  Harper's  Magazine,  June, 
1858. 

1858. 

The  Swallow,  written  in  Naples,  February  8,  1858.  A 
Sick-Bed,  written  in  Naples,  May,  1858,  published  in  the  New 
York  Ledger,  July  23, 1859.  A  Day-Dream,  written  in  Naples, 
published  in  the  New  York  Ledger,  January  5, 1860.  The  Life 
That  Is,  written  in  Castellamare,  May,  1858,  published  in  Thirty 
Poems,  1864.  The  Prairies  Glow  with  Flowers,  written  in 
Princeton,  111.,  1858. 

1859. 

The  Old  World  Sparrow,  written  in  Koslyn  in  1859.  The 
Song  of  the  Sower,  written  in  Roslyn  in  1859,  published  in 
Thirty  Poems,  1864.  The  New  and  the  Old,  written  in  Roslyn 
in  1859. 

1860. 

The  Cloud  on  the  Way,  written  in  New  York  in  1860,  pub- 
lished in  the  New  York  Ledger,  February,  1860.  The  Tides, 
written  in  Roslyn  in  1860,  published  in  the  New  York  Ledger, 
July  28, 1860.  Italy,  written  in  Roslyn  in  1860,  published  in 
the  New  York  Ledger,  October  20, 1860.  Waiting  by  the  Gate, 
written  in  New  York  in  1860,  published  in  Thirty  Poems,  1864. 

1861. 

The  Constellations,  written  in  Roslyn,  published  in  Thirty 
Poems,  1864.  Not  Yet,  written  in  Roslyn  in  July,  published 
in  the  New  York  Ledger,  August  17,  1861.  Our  Country's 
Call,  written  in  Cummington  in  September,  published  in  the 
New  York  Ledger,  November,  1861.  The  Third  of  November, 
written  in  Roslyn,  published  in  Thirty  Poems,  1864.  Civil 
War,  written  in  New  York,  1861.  The  Song  Sparrow,  written 
in  Roslyn,  August,  1861,  published  in  the  Williams  Magazine. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS.  Ixxv 

1862. 

The  Better  Age,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1862.  A  Tale  of 
Cloudland,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1862.  Castles  in  the  Air,  writ- 
ten in  Koslyn  in  1862,  published  in  the  Atlantic  Magazine, 
January,  1866.  Sella,  written  in  Roslyn  in  1862. 

1863. 

Fifty  Years,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1863,  published  at  Will- 
iams College.  The  Little  People  of  the  Snow,  written  in  Eos- 
lyn in  1863,  published  in  Thirty  Poems,  1864.  The  Poet,  writ- 
ten in  Eoslyn  in  1863,  published  in  Thirty  Poems,  1864.  The 
Path, 

1864. 

To  the  Nightingale,  1864.  The  Return  of  the  Birds,  writ- 
ten in  Eoslyn,  March,  1864,  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
July,  1864.  My  Autumn  Walk,  written  in  Eoslyn,  October, 
1864,  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  January,  1865. 

1865. 

Dante,  written  in  New  York,  published  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly,  January,  1866.  Abraham  Lincoln,  Poetical  Tribute 
to  the  Memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  written  in  New  York 
April,  1865,  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  January,  1866. 
A  Legend  of  St.  Martin,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1865.  The 
Words  of  the  Koran,  written  in  Eoslyn,  November,  1865. 

1866. 

The  Order  of  Nature,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1866 ;  edition 
of  1871.  The  Death  of  Slavery,  written  in  Eoslyn,  May,  1866, 
published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  July,  1866. 

1867. 

•> A  Brighter  Day,  written  in  Eoslyn,  October,  1867,  published 
in  the  New  York  Ledger,  January  4, 1868. 

1868. 

Among  the  Trees,  written  in  Eoslyn,  published  in  Putnam's 
Magazine,  January,  1869. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  BRYANT'S  POEMS. 

1869. 

May  Evening,  written  in  Eoslyn,  published  in  Appleton's 
Journal,  May,  1869. 

1872. 

Tree-Burial,  written  in  Eoslyn,  published  in  the  New  York 
Ledger,  August  17,  1872.  A  Legend  of  the  Delaware,  written 
in  Eoslyn,  published  in  the  New  York  Ledger,  November  9, 
1872. 

1873. 

The  Poet's  First  Song,  written  in  Eoslyn,  November,  1873, 
published  in  The  Mayflower,  April,  1876.  The  Two  Travellers, 
written  in  Eoslyn,  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  Janu- 
ary, 1874. 

1875. 

The  Ascension,  written  in  New  York,  December,  1875,  pub- 
lished in  the  Independent.  The  Mystery  of  Flowers,  written 
in  Eoslyn  in  1875.  Christmas  in  1875,  written  in  New  York, 
published  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  December,  1875. 
Our  Fellow- Worshippers,  written  in  Eoslyn. 

1876. 

The  Dead  Patriarch,  written  in  Eoslyn  in  1876.    To , 

written  in  Eoslyn  in  1876.  The  Flood  of  Years,  written  in 
Eoslyn,  published  in  Scribner's  Monthly,  July,  1876.  A  Life- 
time, written  in  Cummington  in  1876. 

1877. 

The  Battle  of  Bennington,  written  August  16, 1877.  In 
Memory  of  John  Lothrop  Motley,  written  September,  1877, 
published  in  the  International  Eeview. 

1878. 

The  Twenty-second  of  February,  written  in  New  York  in 
February,  published  in  the  Sunday-School  Times.  Cervantes, 
written  April  23, 1878. 


PKINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF  THE  POEMS. 

1808. 

The  |  Embargo,  |  or  |  Sketches  of  the  Times ;  |  A  |  Satire.  | 
By  a  Youth  of  Thirteen.  |  Boston :  Printed  for  the  Purchasers. 
|  1808. 

Title  and  pp.  3-12. 

1809. 

The  |  Embargo ;  |  or  |  Sketches  of  the  Times.  |  A  Satire.  | 
The  second  edition  corrected  and  enlarged.  |  Together  with 
the  |  Spanish  Eevolution  |  and  |  Other  Poems.  |  By  William 
Cullen  Bryant.  |  Boston :  |  Printed  for  the  author,  by  E.  G. 
House,  |  No.  5,  Court  Street.  |  1809. 

Collation :  Title  as  above.    Certificate  of  Copyright  on  verso, 

p.  2,  viz. : 

District  of  Massachusetts.  Be  it  remembered,  that  on  the  eighth  day 
of  February,  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  Peter  Bryant,  of  the  said  district,  has 
deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  he 
claims  as  proprietor,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit,  The  Embargo,  or 
Sketches  of  the  Times;  a  Satire.  The  second  edition  corrected  and 
enlarged;  together  with  The  Spanish  Revolution;  and  other  Poems, 
by  William  Cullen  Bryant,  etc. 

Advertisement,  p.  3,  viz. : 

A  DOUBT  having  been  intimated  in  the  Monthly  Anthology  of  June 
last,  whether  a  youth  of  thirteen  years  could  have  been  the  author  of 
this  poem — in  justice  to  his  merits  the  friends  of  the  writer  feel  obliged 
to  certify  the  fact  from  their  personal  knowledge  of  himself  and  his 
family,  as  well  as  his  literary  improvement  and  extraordinary  talents. 
ZThey  would  premise,  that  they  do  not  come  uncalled  before  the  public, 
to  bear  this  testimony— they  would  prefer  that  he  should  be  judged  by 
his  works,  without  favour  or  affection.  As  the  doubt  has  been  sug- 
gested, they  deem  it  merely  an  act  of  justice  to  remove  it— after  which 
they  leave  him  a  candidate  for  favour  in  common  with  other  literary 
adventurers.  They,  therefore,  assure  the  public,  that  Mr.  Bryant,  the 

Ixxvii 


Ixxviii  PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF  THE  POEMS. 

author,  is  a  native  of  Cummiugton,  in  the  County  of  Hampshire,  and 
in  the  month  of  November  last  arrived  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years. 
The  facts  can  be  authenticated  by  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  that 
place,  as  well  as  by  several  of  his  friends  who  give  this  notice ;  and 
if  it  be  deemed  worthy  of  further  inquiry,  the  printer  is  enabled  to 
disclose  their  names  and  places  of  residence.  February,  1809. 

Preface,  pp.  5-6,  viz. : 

The  first  sketch  of  the  following  poem  was  written,  when  the  terrapin 
policy  of  our  Administration,  in  imposing  the  Embargo,  exhibited  un- 
deniable evidence  of  its  hostility  to  Commerce,  and  proof  positive, 
that  its  political  character  was  deeply  tinctured  with  an  unwarrant- 
able partiality  for  France.  &c.,  &c. 

Text,  pp.  7-36.  The  Embargo,  pp.  7-20.  The  Spanish  Eevo- 
lution,  pp.  21-26.  Ode  to  Connecticut  Eiver,  pp.  27-29. 
The  Eeward  of  Literary  Merit,  pp.  29-31.  Enigmas, 
pp.  31-33.  The  Contented  Ploughman,  pp.  33-35. 
Drought,  p.  35.  Translation  from  Horace,  Lib.  1,  Car. 
xxii,  p.  36. 

1821. 

Poems  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Cambridge :  |  Printed 
by  Hilliard  and  Metcalf.  |  1821. 

Collation'.   12mo,  pp.  44.     Brown  paper  boards  with  title  as 

above.     Title  as  above.     Verso  blank.    Advertisement. 
The  first  poem  in  this  collection  was  delivered  before  a  literary  asso- 
ciation.   Some  of  the  others  have  appeared  before,  in  different  periodi- 
cal publications,  and  are  now  by  permission,  inserted  in  this  volume. 

Text,  pp.  7-44.  Sub-title,  The  Ages.  Poem,  The  Ages,  pp.  7- 
24.  Sub-title,  To  a  Waterfowl.  Poem,  To  a  Waterfowl, 
pp.  27-28.  Translation  of  a  Fragment  of  Simonides,  pp. 
29-30.  Inscription  for  the  Entrance  into  a  Wood,  pp. 
31-32.  The  Yellow  Violet,  pp.  33-34.  Song,  p.  35. 
Green  Eiver,  pp.  36-38.  Sub-title,  Thanatopsis.  Poem, 
Thanatopsis,  pp.  41-44. 

Mr.  Godwin,  in  the  two-volume  edition  of  the  poems,  pub- 
lished in  1883,  says  of  the  date  when  Thanatopsis  was  written : 

Mr.  Bryant  was  himself  for  a  while  somewhat  uncertain  as 
to  the  precise  time  in  which  this  poem  was  written.    In  answer 


PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF  THE  POEMS.  Ixxix 

to  a  gentleman,  Mr.  S.  N.  Holliday,  who  put  the  question  to 
him,  he  wrote,  under  date  of  New  York,  March  15, 1855,  as 
follows : 

I  cannot  give  you  any  information  of  the  occasion  which  suggested 
to  my  mind  the  idea  of  my  poem  Thanatopsis.  It  was  written  when  I  was 
seventeen  or  eighteen  years  old — I  have  not  now  at  hand  the  memoran- 
dums which  would  enable  me  to  be  precise — and  I  believe  it  was  com- 
posed in  my  solitary  rambles  in  the  woods.  As  it  was  first  committed 
to  paper,  it  began  with  the  half -line — "Yet  a  few  days,  and  thee" — and 
ended  with  the  beginning  of  another  line  with  the  words — "And  make 
their  bed  with  thee."  The  rest  of  the  poem — the  introduction  and  the 
close — was  added  some  years  afterward,  in  1821,  when  I  published  a 
little  collection  of  my  poems  at  Cambridge." 

He  was  seventeen  years  old  November  3, 1811,  and  he  wrote 
the  poem  shortly  after  he  left  Williams  College,  in  the  summer 
of  that  year.  It  was  put  away  with  others  for  revision,  when 
his  father  found  it,  and  procured  it  to  be  published  in  The 
North  American  Eeview  of  1817.  As  this  poem  occupies  so 
prominent  a  position  in  the  history  of  American  literature,  I 
reproduce  it  here  as  it  was  originally  written  and  printed. 
The  reader  will  easily  discover  the  changes  made  in  it  by  the 
author  between  that  time  and  1821,  when  it  was  first  given  to 
the  public  in  its  present  shape.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
four  rhymed  stanzas  prefixed  to  it  were  not  intended  to  accom- 
pany it,  but,  as  they  were  found  in  the  same  package  with 
Thanatopsis,  they  were  mistakenly  supposed  to  be  an  introduc- 
tion.— EDITOE. 

THANATOPSIS. 

Not  that  from  life  and  all  its  woes 

The  hand  of  death  shall  set  me  free ; 
Not  that  this  head  shall  then  repose 

In  the  low  vale  most  peacefully. 

Ah,  when  I  touch  time's  farthest  brink, 
*  A  kinder  solace  must  attend ; 

It  chills  my  very  soul  to  think 

On  that  dread  hour  when  life  must  end. 

In  vain  the  flattering  verse  may  breathe 
Of  ease  from  pain  and  rest  from  strife, 


PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF   THE  POEMS. 

There  is  a  sacred  dread  of  death 
Inwoven  with  the  strings  of  life. 

This  bitter  cup  at  first  was  given 
When  angry  Justice  frowned  severe ; 

And  'tis  the  eternal  doom  of  heaven 
That  man  must  view  the  grave  with  fear. 

—Yet  a  few  days,  and  thee 
The  all-beholding  sun  shall  see  no  more 
In  all  his  course ;  nor  yet  in  the  cold  ground, 
Where  thy  pale  form  was  laid,  with  many  tears, 
Nor  in  the  embrace  of  ocean,  shall  exist 
Thy  image.     Earth,  that  nourished  thee,  shall  claim 
Thy  growth,  to  be  resolv'd  to  earth  again; 
And,  lost  each  human  trace,  surrend'ring  up 
Thine  individual  being,  shalt  thou  go 
To  mix  forever  with  the  elements, 
To  be  a  brother  to  th'  insensible  rock 
And  to  the  sluggish  clod,  which  the  rude  swain 
Turns  with  his  share,  and  treads  upon.     The  oak 
Shall  send  its  roots  abroad,  and  pierce  thy  mould. 

Yet  not  to  thy  eternal  resting-place 

Shalt  thou  retire  alone — nor  couldst  thou  wish 

Couch  more  magnificent.     Thou  shalt  lie  down 

With  patriarchs  of  the  infant  world — with  kings, 

The  powerful  of  the  earth,  the  wise,  the  good, 

Fair  forms,  and  hoary  seers  of  ages  past, 

All  in  one  mighty  sepulchre.     The  hills 

Rock-ribb'd  and  ancient  as  the  sun,  the  vales 

Stretching  in  pensive  quietness  between, 

The  venerable  woods,  the  floods  that  move 

In  majesty,  and  the  complaining  brooks 

That  wind  among  the  meads  and  make  them  green, 

Are  but  the  solemn  decorations  all 

Of  the  great  tomb  of  man.     The  golden  sun, 

The  planets,  all  the  infinite  host  of  heaven, 

Are  glowing  on  the  sad  abodes  of  death 

Through  the  still  lapse  of  ages.     All  that  tread 

The  globe  are  but  a  handful  to  the  tribes 

That  slumber  in  its  bosom.     Take  the  wings 

Of  morning,  and  the  Borean  desert  pierce, 


PRINCIPAL   EDITIONS   OF   THE   POEMS. 

Or  lose  thyself  in  the  continuous  woods 

That  veil  the  Oregon,  where  he  hears  no  sound 

Save  his  own  dashings — yet  the  dead  are  there, 

And  millions  in  those  solitudes,  since  first 

The  flight  of  years  began,  have  laid  them  down 

In  their  last  sleep.     The  dead  reign  there  alone. 

So  shalt  thou  rest;  and  what  if  thou  shalt  fall 

Unnoticed  by  the  living,  and  no  friend 

Take  note  of  thy  departure  ?     Thousands  more 

Will  share  thy  destiny.     The  tittering  world 

Dance  to  the  grave.     The  busy  brood  of  care 

Plod  on,  and  each  one  chases  as  before 

His  favorite  phantom ;  yet  all  these  shall  leave 

Their  mirth  and  their  employments,  and  shall  come, 

And  make  their  bed  with  thee ! 

Since  the  edition  of  1821,  certain  lines  have  been  further 
changed.  Thus,  page  15,  line  7  : 

— The  Barcan  desert  pierce, 
has  been  written : 

— traverse  Barca's  desert  sands, 
and  then : 

— pierce  the  Barcan  wilderness. 

Page  15,  line  14,  was  originally : 

—and  what  if  thou  shouldst  fall, 
Unnoticed,  by  the  living — 

Page  15,  lines  25  and  26,  stood  in  1821 : 

The  bowed  with  age,  the  infant  in  the  smile 
And  beauty  of  its  innocent  age  cut  off. 

Page  16,  line  3  : 

To  that  mysterious  realm — 
read  in  1821 : 

To  the  pale  realms  of  shade —  EDITOB. 

1832. 

Poems  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  An  American.  |  Ed- 
ited^ by  |  Washington  Irving.  |  London  :  |  J.  Andrews,  167,  New 
Bond  Street.  |  MDCCCXXXIL 

Collation :  8vo,  pp.  xii-235.     Title  as  above.     Verso ;  London : 
J.  Moyes,  Castle  Street,  Leicester  Square.    Dedication 


PRINCIPAL   EDITIONS   OF   THE   POEMS. 

to  Samuel  Rogers,  Esq.,  pp.  iii-vi,  signed  Washington 
Irving,  London,  March,  1832.  Author's  Preface,  pp.  vii- 
viii,  viz. : 

Most  of  the  following  poems  have  been  already  printed.  The  longest, 
entitled  The  Ages,  was  published  in  1821,  in  a  thin  volume,  along 
with  about  half  a  dozen  others  now  included  in  this  collection.  With 
a  few  exceptions,  the  remainder  have  since  appeared  in  different  publi- 
cations, mostly  of  the  periodical  kind.  The  favour  with  which  the 
public  have  regarded  them,  and  of  which  their  republication  in  various 
compilations  seemed  to  the  author  a  proof,  has  induced  him  to  collect 
them  into  a  volume.  In  preparing  them  for  the  press,  he  has  made  such 
corrections  as  occurred  to  him  on  subjecting  them  to  a  careful  revi- 
sion. Sensible  as  he  is  that  no  author  had  ever  more  cause  of  grati- 
tude to  his  countrymen  for  the  indulgent  estimate  placed  by  them  on 
his  literary  attempts,  he  yet  cannot  let  this  volume  go  forth  to  the 
public  without  a  feeling  of  apprehension,  both  that  it  may  contain 
things  which  did  not  deserve  admission,  and  that  the  entire  collection 
may  not  be  thought  worthy  of  the  generous  and  partial  judgment 
which  has  been  passed  upon  some  of  the  separate  poems. 

N.  T.,  January,  1832. 
Contents,  pp.  ix-xii,  as  follows : 

PAGE 

Dedication iii 

Author's  Preface vii 

The  Ages 1 

To  the  Past 16 

Thanatopsis 19 

The  Lapse  of  Time 23 

To  the  Evening  Wind 26 

Forest  Hymn 28 

The  Old  Man's  Funeral 33 

The  Rivulet 35 

The  Damsel  of  Peru 39 

A  Song  ol  Pitcairn's  Island 41 

Rizpah 43 

The  Indian  Girl's  Lament 47 

The  Massacre  at  Scio    .                         50 

Version  of  a  Fragment  of  Simonides 51 

The  Greek  Partisan 53 

Romero 55 

Monument  Mountain 58 

The  Murdered  Traveller 64 

Song  of  the  Greek  Amazon 66 

The  African  Chief  68 


PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF  THE  POEMS.  Ixxxiii 

PAGE 

"  Soon  as  the  Glazed  and  Gleaming  Snow  " 71 

An  Indian  Story 72 

The  Hunter's  Serenade 76 

Song  of  Marion's  Men 79 

Song — "  Dost  thou  idly  ask  to  hear  " 82 

Love  and  Folly 84 

Fatima  and  Eaduan 86 

The  Death  of  Aliatar 89 

The  Alcayde  of  Molina 93 

From  the  Spanish  of  Villegas •    .        .95 

The  Life  of  the  Blessed        .        .        .        , 96 

Mary  Magdalen 98 

The  Siesta 100 

From  the  Spanish  of  Pedro  de  Castro  y  ASaya 102 

Love  in  the  Age  of  Chivalry 104 

The  Love  of  God 106 

v  The  Hurricane ^ .        .        .107 

March 110 

Spring  in  Town 112 

Summer  Wind 115 

Autumn  Woods 117 

A  Winter  Piece 120 

"Oh,  Fairest  of  the  Rural  Maids!" 125 

The  Disinterred  Warrior 126 

The  Greek  Boy 128 

"  Upon  the  Mountain's  Distant  Head  " 130 

Sonnet— William  Tell 131 

To  the  River  Arve 132 

Inscription  for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood 134 

"When  the  Firmament  quivers  with  Daylight's  Young  Beam " .        .  136 

Scene  on  the  Banks  of  the  Hudson 138 

The  West  Wind 140 

To  a  Mosquito -     .  142 

"  I  broke  the  Spell  that  held  me  Long  " 146 

The  Conjunction  of  Jupiter  and  Venus        .         .         .         .        .         .147 

June 151 

The  Two  Graves 154 

The  New  Moon 158 

The  Gladness  of  Nature 160 

To  ^he  Fringed  Gentian 162 

"Innocent  Child  and  Snow-white  Flower!" 164 

Sonnet — Midsummer 165 

Sonnet — October 166 

Sonnet— November  .        .        .         .167 


PRINCIPAL   EDITIONS  OF  THE  POEMS. 

PASK 

A  Meditation  on  Rhode  Island  Coal 168 

An  Indian  at  the  Burying-Place  of  His  Fathers 173 

Sonnet — To  a  Painter  departing  for  Europe 177 

Green  River 178 

To  a  Cloud 181 

After  a  Tempest 183 

The  Burial-Place.     A  fragment 186 

The  Yellow  Violet 189 

' '  I  cannot  forget  with  what  Fervid  Devotion  " 191 

Lines  on  revisiting  the  Country 193 

Sonnet — Mutation 195 

"Hymn  to  the  North  Star 196 

The  Twenty-second  of  December 198 

Ode  for  an  Agricultural  Celebration 199 

A  Walk  at  Sunset 201 

Hymn  of  the  Waldenses 204 

Song  of  the  Stars 206 

Hymn  of  the  City 209 

"  No  man  knoweth  his  Sepulchre  " 211 

"  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  " 212 

The  Skies 214 

Sonnet — To 217 

Death  of  the  Flowers 218 

Hymn  to  Death 220 

To  a  Waterfowl 227 

Notes 229 

Text,  pp.  1-228.    Notes,  pp.  229-235. 

1832. 

Poems  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  New  York :  |  Pub- 
lished by  E.  Bliss,  111  Broadway,  |  And  sold  by  the  principal 
booksellers.  |  MDCCCXXXII. 

Collation:  12mo,  pp.  240.    Title  as  above.    Verso,  Certificate 
of  Copyright  and  printer's  imprint,  as  follows : 

Entered  according  to  an  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  thirty-one,  by  W.  C.  Bryant,  in  the  Clerk's  Office 
of  the  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  southern  district  of  New 
York-  (  New  York:  Ludwig  &  Tolefree, 

-?  Printers.     Corner  Vesey  & 
(  Greenwich  Streets. 


PRINCIPAL   EDITIONS   OF   THE   POEMS.  1XXXV 

Preface,  p.  3.    Text,  pp.  5-234.    Notes,  pp.  235-238.    Contents, 

pp.  239-240. 

An  edition  similar  to  the  above  was  also  printed  in  Boston 
in  the  same  year,  1832.     The  two  were  in  all  respects  similar. 

1834. 

Poems  |  by  |  William    Cullen     Bryant.  |  Boston :  |  Russell, 
Odiorne  &  Metcalf.  |  1834. 

Collation:  12mo,  pp.  xii-240.  False  Title,  Bryant's  Poems. 
Full  title  as  above.  Verso,  Certificate  of  Copyright, 
dated  1831,  and  printer's  imprint.  Advertisement,  p.  v, 
as  follows : 

The  present  edition  contains  a  few  poems  which  were  not  in  the  first, 
and  of  which  two  or  three  have  never  before  appeared  in  print.  The 
author  has  also  made  a  few  corrections,  some  of  which  were  suggested 
by  the  criticisms  which  have  fallen  in  his  way. 

Preface  to  the  First  Edition,  pp.  vii-viii,  dated  New  York, 
January,  1832.  Table  of  Contents,  pp.  ix-xi.  Three 
poems  which  were  not  in  the  previous  editions  of  1832 
are:  The  Prairies;  Sonnet,  from  the  Portuguese  of 
Somedo;  and  The  Journey  of  Life.  Text,  pp.  1-234. 
Notes,  pp.  235-240. 

1836. 
First  Title-Page : 

Poems  |  by  |  William    Cullen    Bryant.  |  Vignette,   A   view 
near  West  Point,  by  E.  W.  Weir. 

"...  enter  this  wild  wood, 
And  view  the  haunts  of  nature. " 

P.  180. 
New  York :  |  Harper  &  Brothers  |  1836. 

Second  Title-Page : 

Poems  |  by  |  William    Cullen    Bryant.  |  Fourth    Edition.  | 
New^  York :  |  Harper  &  Brothers,  Cliff  St.  |  1836. 

Collation:  12mo,  pp.  xii-274.  Title  as  above.  Verso,  Copy- 
right, 1835.  Sub-title,  p.  iii.  Advertisement  to  the 
Second  Edition,  p.  v,  as  follows : 


PRINCIPAL   EDITIONS   OF  THE   POEMS. 

The  present  edition  contains  a  few  poems  which  were  not  in  the  first, 
and  of  which  two  or  three  have  never  before  appeared  in  print.  The 
author  has  also  made  a  few  corrections,  some  of  which  were  suggested 
by  the  criticisms  which  have  fallen  in  his  way. 

Preface  to  the  First  Edition,  New  York,  January,  1832,  pp.  vii- 
viii.  Contents,  pp.  ix-xii.  Text,  pp.  13-267.  Notes, 
pp.  269-274. 

The  following  poems  appear  in  this  edition  for  the  first 
time:  Earth,  To  the  Apennines,  The  Knight's  Epitaph,  Sev- 
enty-six, The  Living  Lost,  The  Strange  Lady,  The  Hunter's 
Vision,  Catterskill  Falls,  The  Hunter  of  the  Prairies,  The  Count 
of  Greiers — From  the  German,  Earth's  Children  Cleave  to 
Earth. 

Four  editions  of  the  above  collection  of  poems  were  made  previous  to 
1839,  numbered  consecutively  from  the  first  to  the  fifth. 

1839. 

Poems  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Fifth  Edition.  |  New 
York :  |  Harper  &  Brothers,  Cliff  St.  j  1839. 

Collation:  12mo,  pp.  xii-276.  Title  as  above.  Verso,  Copy- 
right, 1836.  Sub-title,  p.  iii.  Advertisement  to  the  Fifth 
Edition,  p.  v,  as  follows : 

The  present  edition,  by  the  advice  of  the  publishers,  is  somewhat 
enlarged.  A  few  corrections  have  also  been  made  in  the  text  of  the 
poems  which  were  published  in  the  other  editions. 

Preface  to  the  First  Edition,  New  York,  January,  1832,  pp.  vii- 
viii.  Contents,  pp.  ix-xii.  Text,  pp.  13-269.  Notes, 
pp.  271-276. 

The  only  new  poem  in  this  edition  is  The  Battlefield,  p.  268.  There 
seem  to  have  been  at  least  five  reprints  of  this  edition ;  the  last,  which 
is  called  the  tenth  edition,  having  been  published  in  1843.  The 
destruction  by  fire  of  the  records  of  Harper  Bros,  makes  it  difficult  to 
be  more  accurate  on  this  point. 

1842. 

The  Fountain  |  and  |  other  Poems.  |  By  |  William  Cullen 
Bryant.  |  New  York  and  London:  |  Wiley  and  Putnam.  | 
1842. 


PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS   OF  THE   POEMS.  Ixxxvii 

12mo,  pp.  100.  False  Title.  Title  as  above.  Verso, 
Copyright,  1842,  and  printer's  imprint.  Contents,  p.  v. 
To  the  Eeader,  p.  vii : 

The  poems  which  compose  this  little  volume  have  been  written  within 
the  last  five  or  six  years — some  of  them  merely  as  parts  of  a  longer 
one  planned  by  the  author,  which  may  possibly  be  finished  hereafter. 
In  the  meantime  he  has  been  tempted  to  publish  them  in  this  form  by 
the  reception  which  another  collection  of  his  verses  has  already  met 
with  among  his  countrymen.  NEW  YORK,  July,  1842. 

Sub-title,  The  Fountain.  |  Text,  pp.  11-96.  |  Notes,  pp. 
97-100. 

The  following  poems  appear  in  this  edition  for  the  first 
time :  The  Fountain,  The  Winds,  The  Green  Mountain  Boys, 
The  Death  of  Schiller,  A  Presentiment,  The  Future  Life,  The 
Old  Man's  Counsel,  The  Child's  Funeral,  A  Serenade,  To  the 
Memory  of  William  Leggett,  An  Evening  Revery,  The  Painted 
Cup,  A  Dream,  The  Antiquity  of  Freedom. 

1844. 

Outside  Cover  Title :  The  Home  Library.  |  Poetical  Series, 
No.  1.  |  The  White  Footed  Deer  |  and  other  Poems.  |  By  Will- 
iam Cullen  Bryant.  |  New  York :  |  I.  S.  Platt,  111,  Fulton 
Street.  |  Press  of  the  Home  Library,  1844. 

Collation :  16mo,  pp.  vi-24.    Notes,  p.  1. 

This  little  volume  has  yellow  paper  covers,  with  title  as  above.  The 
back  cover  contains  an  advertisement  of  the  Home  Library,  edited  by 
Evert  A.  Duyckinck,  in  which  the  statement  is  made  that  the  poetical 
series  will  commence  with  The  White  Footed  Deer. 

False  Title,  The  White  Footed  Deer  and  Other  Poems. 
Title,  p.  iv,  The  White  Footed  Deer  &  Other  Poems,  by 
William  Cullen  Bryant.  Copyright  on  verso,  dated  1844,  with 
printers'  and  stereotyper's  names.  S.  W.  Benedict  &  Co.,  128, 
Fulton  St. 

Contents,  p.  vi. 

PAGE 

Advertisement vii 

The  White-Footed  Deer 1 

Noon 5 

Washington 8 


PRINCIPAL   EDITIONS   OF  THE   POEMS. 

PAGE 

The  Maiden's  Sorrow 9 

The  Crowded  Street 11 

The  Return  of  Youth 14 

Northern  Legend 16 

A  Summer  Ramble 18 

The  Death  of  Channing 21 

Hymn  of  the  Sea 22 

Notes 25 

Advertisement. 

All  the  following  trifles  in  verse  except  one  have  been  written  since 
the  last  collection  of  the  author's  poems  was  published. 

NEW  YORK,  March,  1844. 

Notes,  p.  1. 

During  the  stay  of  Long's  expedition  at  Engineer  Cantonment,  three 
specimens  of  a  variety  of  the  common  deer  were  brought  in,  having 
all  the  feet  white  near  the  hoofs,  and  extending  to  those  on  the  hind 
feet  from  a  little  above  the  spurious  hoofs,  etc. 

P.  5. 

At  noon  the  Hebrew  bowed  the  knee  and  worshipped.  Evening  and 
morn  and  at  noon  will  I  pray  and  cry  aloud,  and  he  shall  hear  my 
voice. 

1847. 

Poems  |  by  |  William  Cnllen  Bryant  |  with  Illustrations  by 
E.  Leutze.  |  Engraved  by  American  Artists.  |  Philadelphia :  | 
Carey  and  Hart,  |  1847.  | 

Collation :  Eoyal  8vo,  pp.  378.  Frontispiece,  Greek  Amazon. 
Sub-title,  Poems  by  William  Cullen  Bryant,  with  vignette 
portrait,  Philadelphia,  Carey  &  Hart.  Title  as  above. 
Copyright  on  verso,  1847. 

To  the  Reader,  p.  3 : 

Perhaps  it  would  have  been  well  if  the  author  had  followed  his  orig- 
inal intention,  which  was  to  leave  out  of  this  volume,  as  unworthy  of 
republication,  several  of  the  poems  which  made  a  part  of  his  previous 
collections.  He  asks  leave  to  plead  the  judgment  of  a  literary  friend, 
whose  opinion  in  such  matters  he  highly  values,  as  his  apology  for 
having  retained  them.  With  the  exception  of  the  first  and  longest 
poem  in  the  collection,  The  Ages,  they  are  all  arranged  according  to 
the  order  of  time  in  which  they  were  written,  as  far  as  it  can  be 
ascertained.  NEW  YORK,  1846. 


PRINCIPAL   EDITIONS   OF   THE   POEMS. 

Contents,  pp.  5-9.  List  of  illustrations,  pp.  11-16.  Portrait  of 
Bryant,  preceding  text.  Text,  pp.  17-361.  Notes,  false 
title,  p.  363.  Notes,  pp.  365-378. 

This  edition  was  reprinted  complete  in  one  volume  without 
illustrations.  Philadelphia,  Carey  &  Hart,  1849. 

1854. 

Poems  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Collected  and  ar- 
ranged |  by  the  Author.  |  In  Two  Volumes.  |  Vol.  I.  |  New 
York,  |  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  |  346  and  348,  Broadway.  | 
London :  16  Little  Britain.  |  MDCCCLIV. 

Collation:  12mo,  2  vols.  Vol.  I,  pp.  x-296.  Vol.  II,  pp.  vi- 
286.  Title  as  above.  Copyright  on  verso,  1854. 

To  the  Eeader.  (Prefixed  to  the  Edition  of  1846.)  P.  3 : 
Advertisement,  p.  5. 

The  present  edition  has  been  carefully  revised  by  the  author,  and 
some  faults  of  diction  and  versification  corrected.  A  few  poems  not 
in  the  previous  editions  have  been  added. 

NEW  YORK,  August,  1854. 

Contents  of  Vol.  I,  pp.  7-10.  Sub-title,  Poems.  Text,  pp. 
1-286.  Notes,  pp.  287-296. 

Vol.  II.     Title  as  above.     Contents,  pp.  3-6.     Sub-title,  Poems. 

Text,  pp.  1-268.    Notes.  269-286. 

This  edition  was  reprinted  in  1855,  1856,  1857,  1859,  1860,  1862,  1864, 
1864,  1865,  1866,  1869,  1870. 

An  edition  of  the  above  collection  of  poems  was  published  in  one  36mo 
volume,  September,  1854. 

A  reprint  of  the  Carey  &  Hart  illustrated  edition  of  1847  was  made  in 
this  year  with  the  imprint  of  D.  Appleton  and  Company  on  the  title- 
page. 

Poems  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Collected  and  ar- 
ranged by  the  Author.  |  Illustrated  with  seventy-one  engrav- 
ings. |  From  drawings  by  eminent  artists.  |  New  York :  |  D. 
Appleton  and  Company,  346-348,  Broadway. 

Collation:  Sm.  4to,  pp.  xvi-344.  Title  as  above.  Copy- 
right on  verso,  1854.  Contents,  pp.  v-ix.  List  of  illus- 
trations, x-xii.  To  the  Eeader,  prefixed  to  the  edition 


XC  PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF   THE   POEMS. 

of  1846,  p.  xiii.     Advertisement,  prefixed  to  the  edition 
of  1854,  p.  xiv.     Sub-title,  Poems,  p.  xv.    Text,  1-332. 
Sub-title,  Notes,  p.  333.    Notes,  pp.  335-344. 
This  edition  was  printed  in  England,  by  R.  Clay,  Bread 
Street  Hill.    The  following  poems  appear  in  this  edition  for 
the  first  time :  The  Unknown  Way,  Oh  Mother  of  a  Mighty 
Eace,  The  Land  of  Dreams,  The  Burial  of  Love,  The  May  Sun 
Sheds  an  Amber  Light,  The  Voice  of  Autumn,  The  Conqueror's 
Grave,  The  Snow-shower,*  A  Rain -Dream,*  Robert  of  Lin- 
coln.* 

1864. 

Thirty  Poems.  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  New  York :  |  D. 
Appleton  and  Company,  |  443  and  445  Broadway.  |  London :  16 
Little  Britain.  |  MDCCCLXIV. 

Collation :  12mo,  pp.  222.    Title  as  above.    Copyright  on  verso, 
1863.     Pp.  3-4. 

To  the  Reader : 

The  author  has  attempted  no  other  classification  of  the  poems  in  this 
volume  than  that  of  allowing  them  to  follow  each  other  according  to 
the  order  of  time  in  which  they  were  written.  It  has  seemed  to  him 
that  this  arrangement  is  as  satisfactory  as  any  other,  since,  at  differ- 
ent periods  of  life,  an  author's  style  and  habits  of  thought  may  be 
supposed  to  undergo  very  considerable  modifications.  One  poem 
forms  an  exception  to  this  order  of  succession,  and  should  have 
appeared  in  an  earlier  collection.  Three  others  have  already  appeared 
in  an  illustrated  edition  of  the  author's  poems. 

NEW  YORK,  December,  1863. 

Contents,  pp.  5-6.     Sub-title,  Poems,  p.  7.     Text,  pp.  9-210. 

Sub-title,  Notes,  p.  211.  Notes,  pp.  213-222. 
The  following  poems  appear  in  this  edition  for  the  first 
time :  The  Planting  of  the  Apple-Tree,  The  Twenty-seventh  of 
March,  An  Invitation  to  the  Country,  Song  for  New  Year's  Eve, 
The  Wind  and  Stream,  The  Lost  Bird— from  the  Spanish  of 
Carolina  Coronado,  The  Night  Journey  of  a  River,  The  Life 
that  Is,  Song,  "  These  Prairies  Glow  with  Flowers,"  A  Sick- 

*  The  last  three  poems  do  not  appear  in  the  American  edition  of  this 
date. 


PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF  THE  POEMS.  XC1 

Bed,  The  Song  of  the  Sower,  The  New  and  the  Old,  The  Cloud 
on  the  Way,  The  Tides,  Italy,  A  Day-Dream,  The  Euins  of 
Italica — from  the  Spanish  of  Kioja,  Waiting  by  the  Gate,  Not 
Yet,  Our  Country's  Call,  The  Constellations,  The  Third  of  No- 
vember, 1861,  The  Mother's  Hymn,  Sella,  The  Fifth  Book  of 
Homer's  Odyssey — translated,  The  Little  People  of  the  Snow, 
The  Poet. 

1871. 

Poems  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Collected  and  ar- 
ranged |  by  the  Author.  |  New  York :  |  D.  Appleton  and  Com- 
pany, 549  and  551  Broadway.  |  London :  16  Little  Britain.  | 
1871. 

Collation:  12mo,  pp.  390.  Frontispiece,  portrait  of  Bryant. 
Title  as  above.  Copyright  on  verso,  1871.  To  the 
Reader,  p.  iii,  New  York,  June,  1871.  Contents,  pp.  v-ix. 
Text,  pp.  11-375.  Notes,  pp.  376-390. 

This  is  known  as  the  "Red-line"  Edition,  and  has  been  frequently 
reprinted. 

1876. 

Poetical  Works  |  of  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Collected 
and  arranged  |  by  the  Author.  |  Illustrated  by  one  hundred  en- 
gravings. |  From  drawings  by  Birket  Foster,  Harry  Fenn, 
Alfred  Fredericks,  and  others.  |  New  York :  |  D.  Appleton  and 
Company,  |  549  and  551  Broadway. 

Collation:  Sq.  8vo,  pp.  x-501.  Frontispiece,  portrait  of 
Bryant.  Title  as  above.  Copyright  on  verso,  1876. 
To  the  Eeader,  p.  iii,  dated  New  York,  August,  1876. 
Contents,  pp.  v-x.  Sub-title,  Poems.  Text,  pp.  3-486. 
Notes,  487-501. 

The  illustrations  in  this  edition  are  the  same  as  those  used  in  the 
English  edition  of  1854,  with  the  addition  of  a  new  illustration  to 
Thanatopsis,  p.  21. 

The  following  poems  appear  in  this  edition  for  the  first 
time:  October,  1866,  The  Order  of  Nature,  Tree -Burial,  A 
Legend  of  the  Delawares,  A  Lifetime. 


XC11  PRINCIPAL  EDITIONS  OF  THE  POEMS. 

1883. 

The  |  Poetical  Works  |  of  j  William  Cullen  Bryant,  |  edited 
by  |  Parke  Godwin.  |  In  Two  Volumes.  |  Volume  First.  |  New 
York :  |  D.  Appleton  and  Company.  |  1,  3,  and  5  Bond  Street.  | 
1883. 

Collation :  I,  8vo,  pp.  358.  False  Title,  The  Life  and  Works 
of  William  Cullen  Bryant.  Vol.  III.  Title  as  above. 
Copyright  on  verso,  1883.  Preface,  pp.  v-vi.  Original 
Prefaces,  vii-x.  Contents,  xi-xiv.  Sub-title,  p.  15. 
Text,  pp.  17-326.  Notes,  pp.  327-358.  Vol.  II, 
pp.  372. 


SEPARATE  PUBLICATIONS. 

1820. 

An  Oration,  |  delivered  at  Stockbridge,  July  4, 1820.  |  By 
William  C.  Bryant,  Esq.  |  Stockbridge :  Printed  by  Charles 
Webster,  1820. 

12mo.  Title,  p.  1  (verso  blank).  Oration,  pp.  3-11  (verso 
blank.) 

1841. 

Popular  Considerations  on  Homo30pathia :  |  By  William  Cul- 
len  Bryant,  Esq.,  |  delivered  before  the  New  York  Homoe- 
opathic Society,  |  December  23, 1841.  New  York  [1841]. 

8vo,  pp.  24. 

1843. 

An  Address  |  to  the  |  People  of  the  United  States  |  in  be- 
half of  the  American  Copyright  Club.  |  Adopted  at  New  York, 
October  18, 1843.  New  York :  Published  by  the  Club,  1843. 

12mo,  pp.  20. 

1848. 

A  |  Funeral  Oration  |  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  |  Thomas 
Cole.  |  Delivered  before  the  |  National  Academy  of  Design,  | 
New  York,  May  4,  1848,  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Pub- 
lished by  order  of  |  the  Council  of  the  Academy.  |  New  York. 

8vo,  pp.  42. 

1850. 

Letters  of  a  Traveller,  |  or  |  Notes  of  Things  |  Seen  in  | 
Europe  and  America.  |  By  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  New 
York,  |  George  P.  Putnam,  155,  Broadway.  |  London :  Eichard 
Bentley,  |  1850. 

12mo,  pp.  442. 

Tkis  edition  was  reprinted  in  1851,  under  the  title  of  The 
Picturesque  Souvenir,  Letters  of  a  Traveller,  published  by 
Putnam,  with  thirteen  steel  engravings. 


XC1V  SEPARATE   PUBLICATIONS. 

1851. 

Keminiscences  |  of  the  |  Evening  Post.  |  Extracted  from 
the  Evening  Post  |  of  |  November  15,  1851.  |  With  additions 
and  corrections  by  the  Writer.  |  New  York  :  |  William  C. 
Bryant  &  Co.,  Printers,  18  Nassau  Street,  N.  Y.  |  1851. 

12mo,  pp.  22. 

1859. 

Letters  of  a  Traveller.  |  Second  series.  |  By  |  William  Cullen 
Bryant.  |  New  York  :  |  D.  Appleton  and  Company  |  346  and  348 
Broadway.  |  1859.  | 

12mo,pp.277. 


"  How  Amiable  are  Thy  Tabernacles,  Oh  Lord  of  Hosts."  | 
A  |  Forest  Hymn  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant,  |  with  |  Illus- 
trations |  by  |  John  A.  Nums.  |  New  York  :  |  W.  A.  Towns- 
end  &  Co.  |  [I860]. 

4to,  pp.  32,  printed  on  one  side  only. 

There  are  two  variations  of  this  title-page,  one  with  the 
imprint  "  New  York,  Hurd  &  Houghton,"  with  plates  some- 
what worn  ;  the  other,  "  New  York,  James  G.  Gregory." 

1863. 

Class  Ode,  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Class  of  1813  | 
1863.  |  Fifty  years,  |  for  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Class 
of  Williams  College,  which  was  graduated  in  1813. 

4to,  2  pp.,  printed  on  one  side  only,  signed  W.  C.  B. 

1864. 

Hymns  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant. 
8vo,  pp.  iv-40. 

Nineteen  hymns  are  included  in  this  collection,  which  was  printed  for 
private  circulation  only.  Bound  in  black  boards.  Title  in  gilt 
letters  on  cover. 

Book  of  Hymns,  1864. 

"  Soon  after  his  father's  death  (March  20,  1820),  while  he  was  yet  full 
of  the  sentiment  it  inspired,  an  appeal  was  made  to  him  by  the  Uni- 
tarians in  aid  of  a  Collection  of  Hymns  they  projected.  Mr.  Henry 


SEPARATE   PUBLICATIONS.  XCV 

D.  Sewall,  the  editor,  applied  to  Miss  Catherine  M.  Sedgwick,  of 
Stockbridge,  to  use  her  efforts  in  his  behalf." 

In  a  letter  to  her  brother  Robert,  of  New  York,  dated  May  17,  1820, 
she  writes  : 

"  I  wish  you  would  give  my  best  regards  to  Mr.  Sewall,  and  tell  him 
I  have  had  great  success  in  my  agency.  I  sent  for  Mr.  Bryant  last 
week,  and  he  called  to  see  me  on  my  return  from  Court.  I  told  him 
Mr.  Sewall  had  commissioned  me  to  request  some  contributions  from 
him  to  a  collection  of  hymns,  and  he  said,  without  any  hesitation, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  Mr.  Sewall,  and  would  with  great  pleasure 
comply  with  his  request,"  etc. 

The  following  is  Miss  Sedgwick's  reply  to  Mr.  Bryant,  written  more 
than  forty  years  afterward,  on  receipt  of  a  copy  of  hymns  published 
at  that  time  : 

"  MY  DEAR  MR.  BRYANT: 

"  But  for  your  prohibition  I  should  at  once,  on  the  receipt  of  my 
precious  little  Hymns,  have  sent  to  you  my  earnest  thanks,  and  told 
you  how  vividly  they  recall  the  day  when  the  young  poet,  one  of  the 
first  objects  of  my  hero-worship,  offered  me  in  my  dear  home  the  six 
hymns,  etc." 

Extract  from  letter—  W.  G.  B.  to  Rev.  A.  P.  Putnam,  November  15, 
1878. 

Hymns. 

Nos.  1  and  2.  Composed  for  some  Ordination.  Nos.  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8. 
Composed  for  collection  made  by  Henry  D.  Sewall.  No.  9.  Ordina- 
tion in  England.  No.  10.  After  a  lapse  of  thirty  years,  for  Mr. 
Waterston,  Boston.  No.  11.  For  dedication  of  the  Church  of  the 
Pilgrims.  No.  12.  Composed  for  anniversary  of  Foreign  Missionary 
Society.  No.  13.  Written  for  Mr.  Lombard,  of  Utica,  included  in  a 
collection  at  the  end  of  a  School  Liturgy,  compiled  in  1859.  No.  14. 
Written  at  Dr.  Osgood's  suggestion  in  1861-'62,  and  included  by  him 
in  his  Liturgy.  The  remaining  five,  written  to  complete  collection. 

1869. 

Letters  from  the  East,  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  New 
York :  |  G.  P.  Putnam  &  Son.  |  1869. 
8vo,  pp.  256. 

1869. 

Some  Notices  |  of  the  |  Life  and  Writings  |  of  |  Fitz-Greene 
Halleck.  |  Eead  before  the  New  York  Historical  Society  on  the 
3d  of  February,  1869.  |  By  William  Cullen  Bryant,  j  New 


SEPARATE   PUBLICATIONS. 

York :  |  Evening  Post   Steam  Presses,  41   Nassau,  Cor.   Lib- 
erty. |  1869. 
8vo,  pp.  35. 

1870. 

The  |  Iliad  of  Homer.  |  Translated  into  English  Blank 
Verse.  |  By  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Volume  I.  |  Monogram 
of  Publishers.  |  Boston :  |  Fields,  Osgood  &  Co.  |  1870. 

Royal  8vo.     I.  pp.  398,  with  rubricated  title.    II.  pp.  426. 

1871. 

The  |  Odyssey  of  Homer.  |  Translated  into  English  blank 
verse.  |  By  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Vol.  I  (and  II).  |  Mono- 
gram of  publishers.  |  Boston :  |  James  R.  Osgood  &  Company,  | 
late  Ticknor  &  Fields,  and  Fields,  Osgood  &  Co.  |  1871. 

8vo,  I,  pp.  xii-324 ;  II,  pp.  vi-311. 

Electrotyped  and  printed  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  by  Welch, 
Bigelow  &  Co.  Reprinted  by  James  R.  Osgood  &  Co.,  Boston, 
1873,  2  vols.,  8vo. 

1871. 

The  |  Song  of  the  Sower,  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  | 
Illustrated  with  Forty-two  Engravings  on  Wood.  |  New  York :  | 
D.  Appleton  and  Company.  |  MDCCCLXXL 

4to,  pp.  48. 

Bound  in  heavy  embossed  brown  morocco  boards.     Illuminated  title 

on  back  and  sides,  with  vignettes  of  a  harp  and  plow  in  gilt,  top 

and  bottom. 

1873. 

The  Little  |  People  of  the  Snow  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bry- 
ant. |  Illustrated  |  from  designs  by  Alfred  Fredericks,  engraved 
by  A.  Bobbett.  |  New  York :  |  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  |  549 
and  551,  Broadway.  |  1873. 
4to,  pp.  40. 

1874. 

Among  the  Trees,  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Illustra- 
ted. |  From  designs  by  Jervis  McEntee,  Engraved  by  Harley.  | 
New  York :  |  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  |  Fourth  Avenue  and 
Twenty-third  Street.  |  [1874]. 

Sq.  12mo.     Printed  on  one  side  only.     Pp.  39. 


SEPARATE  PUBLICATIONS. 

Thanatopsis,  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons.  |  New  York. 

4to,  pp.  1-18.  Printed  on  one  side  only.  Illustrations, 
proofs  on  India  paper. 

The  |  Flood  of  Years,  |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  The 
Illustrations  by  |  W.  J.  Linton. 

4to,  pp.  19-46.  Printed  on  one  side  only.  Proofs  on  India 
paper. 

1878. 

The  |  Flood  of  Years.  |  New  York :  |  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  | 
1878. 

4to,  pp.  32. 


ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES. 

1818. 

Address  on  the  Bible,  Berkshire  Star  (Stockbridge),  Febru- 
ary 6th. 

This  address  was  delivered  before  the  Bible  Society  at  Great 
Barrington  on  the  29th  of  January,  1818. 

1852. 

Memorial  |  of  |  James  Fenimore  Cooper.  |  New  York  :  | 
G.  P.  Putnam.  |  [1852].  |  Bryant's  Discourse  on  the  Life,  Char- 
acter, and  Genius  of  Cooper,  pp.  39-73. 

1852. 

Report  of  the  Special  Committee  appointed  by  the  Common 
Council  of  the  City  of  New  York  to  make  Arrangements  for  the 
Reception  of  Gov.  Louis  Kossuth,  the  Distinguished  Hungarian 
Patriot.  New  York :  Published  by  order  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil, 1852. 

8vo,  pp.  iv-756,  with  portrait. 

Bryant's  address  as  President  of  the  Press  Banquet  at  the 
Astor  House,  Monday  evening,  December  15th,  pp.  228-231. 
(See  Orations  and  Addresses,  New  York,  1873,  p.  261.) 

1856. 

An  address  delivered  at  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Society. 

Address  delivered  before  the  New  York  Horticultural  So- 
ciety at  the  Exhibition,  September  26th.  (Orations  and  Ad- 
dresses, p.  269,  New  York,  1873.) 

Music  in  the  Public  Schools.  An  address  delivered  at  the 
close  of  a  series  of  lectures  by  Richard  Storrs  Willis,  December 
29, 1856.  (Orations  and  Addresses,  p.  285,  New  York,  1873.) 


ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES. 

1858. 

The  Newspaper  Press.  New  England  Society  Dinner,  De- 
cember 22d.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  208,  New  York,  1884.) 

1859. 

Schiller.  An  address  delivered  at  the  Cooper  Institute  on 
the  occasion  of  the  Schiller  Festival,  November  11, 1859.  (Ora- 
tions and  Addresses,  p.  295,  New  York,  1873.) 

1860. 

The  |  Centennial  Birthday  |  of  |  Eobert  Burns  |  as  cele- 
brated by  the  |  1759  (engraved  medallion  portrait  of  Burns) 
1859  |  Burns  Club  of  the  City  of  New  York,  |  Tuesday,  January 
25, 1859.  |  Edited  by  J.  Cunningham.  |  New  York,  1860. 

8vo,  pp.  136,  with  colored  frontispiece. 

Mr.  Bryant  acted  as  honorary  chairman,  p.  47. 

His  speech,  pp.  53-57. 

1863. 

Banquet  given  in  New  York  on  the  16th  day  of  December, 
1863,  by  the  Mexican  Legation. 
8vo,  pp.  16. 

P.  4,  Bryant  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  guests ;  pp.  14-15, 
his  toast. 

1864. 

The  |  Bryant  Festival  |  at  |  "  The  Century  "  |  November  5, 
MDCCCLXIV  |  New  York,  |  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  |  443 
&  445  Broadway.  |  MDCCCLXV. 

4to,  pp.  88. 

Bryant's  reply  to  Mr.  Bancroft,  pp.  9-13. 

1865. 

The  |  Bryant    Festival  |  at  |  "  The     Century."  |  Illustrated 
Edition.  |  New  York.  |  Published  by  the  Century  Association.  | 
MDCCCLXV. 
Collation :  4to,  pp.  88.     Printed  on  one  side  only. 

Frontispiece — Photograph  of  the  Century  Club  House. 

Title  as  above. 


C  ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES. 

Copyright  on  verso — by  the  Century  Association,  1864. 

Only  150  copies  printed.    No.  36. 

Photograph  of  Bryant. 

Text,  pp.  3-88. 

Mr.  Bryant's  reply  to  Mr.  Huntington,  p.  42. 

The  |  National  Academy  of  Design.  |  Ceremonies  on  the 
occasion  of  [  Laying  the  cornerstone,  |  October  21,  1863,  |  and 
the  |  Inauguration  of  the  Building,  j  April  27,  1865.  |  New 
York,  |  MDCCCLXV. 

Royal  8vo,  pp.  92. 

200  copies  printed.    July,  1865. 

Bryant's  address,  pp.  20-22. 

1865. 

Address  to  the  Soldiers  of  the  Union  Army,  January  1, 
1865  (p.  221,  Godwin's  Life,  vol.  ii). 

1866. 

Dinner  to  Sefior  Matias  Romero,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  Mexico,  on  the  29th  of  March, 
1864.  New  York,  1866. 

1867. 

Banquet  |  to  [  Sefior  Matias  Romero,  |  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  |  Plenipotentiary  from  Mexico  |  to  the  United 
States,  |  by  the  |  Citizens  of  New  York,  |  October  2, 1867. 

Royal  8vo,  46  pp. 

Printed  for  private  distribution.  On  pp.  3  and  4  Bryant  is 
mentioned  as  member  of  the  committee,  and  was  the  toast- 
master,  pp.  27-30,  36,  38,  40-42,  46. 

1868. 

Complimentary  Dinner  to  Jonathan  Sturges. 
8vo,  pp.  28. 

Bryant  was  one  of  the  guests  (p.  3) ;  his  toast,  "  Literature, 
the  Fine  Arts,  and  Commerce,"  pp.  22-25. 


ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES.  Cl 

1868. 

Freedom  of  Exchange.  Speech  at  a  dinner  given  to  Mr. 
Bryant  in  New  York,  January  30,  1868.  (Orations  and  Ad- 
dresses, p.  313,  New  York,  1873.) 

The  Electric  Telegraph.  Speech  at  a  dinner  given  to  Sam- 
uel Breese  Morse,  December  29, 1868.  (Orations  and  Addresses, 
p.  325,  New  York,  1873.) 

1869. 

A  History  |  of  the  |  Celebration  of  Eobert  Burns'  |  110th 
Natal  Day,  |  at  the  Metropolitan  Hotel,  |  New  York.  |  Jersey 
City,  |  1869. 

8vo,  pp.  99. 

Pp.  31-33,  Mr.  Bryant's  toast  on  Minstrelsy. 

1869. 

A  Metropolitan  Art  Museum  |  in  the  City  of  New  York.  | 
Proceedings  of  a  Meeting  |  Held  at  the  Theatre  of  the  |  Union 
League  Club,  Tuesday  Evening,  November  23,  1869.  |  Includ- 
ing |  Addresses,  Eemarks,  and  Letters  |  by  |  Mr.  Wm.  C.  Bryant, 
Prof.  Comfort,  Mr.  K.  M.  Hunt,  Mr.  Henry  GL  Stebbins,  Mr. 
William  J.  Hoppin,  Mr.  Russell  Sturgis,  Rev.  Dr.  Thompson, 
Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  Mr.  Marshall  0.  Roberts,  Mr.  Geo.  Wm.  Curtis, 
and  others.  |  New  York.  |  Printed  for  the  Committee,  |  1869. 

Pamphlet  of  40  pages. 

Mr.  Bryant's  address  as  president  will  be  found  on  p.  8. 

1870. 

Celebration  of  the  lllth  Anniversary  of  Robert  Burns'  Natal 
Day,  at  Delmonico's  Hotel,  New  York,  January  25, 1870.  New 
York,  1870. 

8vo,  pp.  52. 

Bryant's  toast,  "  The  Memory  of  Robert  Burns,"  pp.  12-14. 
(See  Prose  Writings,  New  York,  1884,  p.  322.) 

1870. 

Translators  of  Homer.  Speech  to  the  Williams  College 
Alumni,  February  22,  1870.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  267.  New 
York,  1884.) 


Cii  ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES. 

1870. 

A  Discourse  |  on  the  |  Life,  Character,  and  Writings  |  of  | 
Gulian  Crommelin  Verplanck.  |  Delivered  before  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  |  May  17, 1870,  |  by  William  Cullen  Bryant.  | 
New  York.  |  Printed  for  the  Society.  |  MDCCCLXX.  60  pages. 

1870. 

The  Mercantile  Library.  Address  delivered  on  the  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  of  the  Founding  of  the  New  York  Mercantile  Li- 
brary, November  9,  1870.  (Orations  and  Addresses,  p.  345. 
New  York,  1873.) 

1871. 

The  Struggle  for  Neutrality  in  America.  An  address  deliv- 
ered before  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  at  their  sixty- 
sixth  anniversary,  December  13,  1870,  by  Charles  Francis 
Adams.  New  York,  1871. 

8vo,  pp.  52. 

Bryant's  remarks  as  foreign  corresponding  secretary  of  the 
Society,  pp.  51,  52. 

1871. 

The  Unity  of  Italy.  The  American  Celebration  of  the 
Unity  of  Italy,  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  New  York,  January 
12, 1871,  with  the  addresses,  letters,  and  comments  of  the  press. 
New  York,  1871. 

Royal  8vo,  pp.  197. 

Bryant's  address,  pp.  172-175.  (See  Orations  and  Ad- 
dresses, New  York,  1873,  p.  353.) 

1871. 

The  Settlement  of  the  Alabama  Question.  The  Banquet 
given  at  New  York  [May  23d]  to  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  High 
Commissioners  by  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field.  A  report  edited  with  a 
short  introduction  by  Justin  McCarthy.  London,  1871. 

8vo,  pp.  72,  with  two  group  photographs. 

Bryant's  speech,  pp.  62-66. 

Negotiation  vs.  War.  Remarks  made  at  the  dinner  given 
to  the  High  Commissioners  who  negotiated  the  Treaty  of 
Washington.  New  York,  May,  1871.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  284. 
New  York,  1884.) 


ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES.  Clll 

German  Literature.  Remarks  at  a  dinner  given  to  Baron 
Gerolt,  German  Ambassador,  May  17, 1871.  (Prose  Writings, 
p.  287.  New  York,  1884.) 

The  Morse  Statue.  Address  delivered  on  the  unveiling  of 
the  statue  of  Samuel  Finlay  Breese  Morse,  June  10, 1871.  (Ora- 
tions and  Addresses,  p.  361.  New  York,  1873.) 

1871. 

Myles  Standish,  with  an  Account  of  the  Exercises  of  Con- 
secration of  the  Monument  Ground  on  Captain's  Hill,  Dux- 
bury,  August  17, 1871.  Prepared  by  Stephen  M.  Allen.  Bos- 
ton, 1871. 

8vo,  pp.  76. 

Letter  from  Bryant  on  p.  76. 

1871. 

Darwin's  Theory.  Remarks  at  Williams  College  Alumni 
Dinner,  December  28,  1871.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  291.  New 
York,  1884.) 

1872. 

Literary  Missionaries.  Remarks  at  a  lecture  of  George 
Macdonald  on  Hamlet,  introducing  the  lecturer.  New  York, 
1872.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  298.  New  York,  1884.) 

1872. 

Reform.  Address  delivered  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  Cooper 
Institute,  September  23,  1872.  (Orations  and  Addresses,  p. 
381.  New  York,  1873.) 

Sir  Walter  Scott.  Address  on  the  unveiling  of  the  statue 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  Central  Park,  November  4, 1872.  (Ora- 
tions and  Addresses,  p.  389.  New  York,  1873.) 

,  1872. 

Sixty-seventh  |  Anniversary  Celebration  |  of  the  |  New  Eng- 
land Society  |  in  the  City  of  New  York  |  at  Delmonico's,  | 
December  23,  1872. 

8vo,  pp.  106. 

Bryant's  speech,  The  Press,  is  on  pp.  42-45. 


CIV  ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES. 

1873. 

An  address  before  the  Geographical  and  Statistical  Society 
of  Mexico,  February,  1773. 

(P.  320,  Godwin's  Life,  vol.  ii.) 

1873. 

Shakespeare.  Ward's  Statue  in  the  Central  Park,  New 
York  [May  22, 1872].  New  York,  1873. 

Royal  8vo,  pp.  72.     Only  fifty  copies  printed. 

Bryant's  oration  is  on  pp.  15-22.  (See  Orations  and  Ad- 
dresses, New  York,  1873,  p.  371.) 

1873. 

The  Princeton  Library.  Address  at  Princeton,  X.  J.,  June 
24, 1873,  on  the  opening  of  the  new  building  for  the  College 
Library.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  324.  New  York,  1884.) 

1874. 

Franklin  as  a  Poet.  Speech  at  the  celebration  of  Franklin's 
birthday  by  the  New  York  Typographical  Society,  January  17, 
1874.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  329.  New  York,  1884.) 

1874. 

The  Reception  of  Peter  Cooper  by  the  Arcadian  Club,  on 
his  eighty-fourth  birthday,  Feb.  12, 1874.  Printed  for  private 
distribution.  New  York,  1774. 

8vo,  pp.  105. 

Bryant's  speech,  pp.  52-54. 

1874. 

Proceedings  at  the  Mass  Meeting  of  Citizens  in  the  Cooper 
Institute,  New  York,  Tuesday  evening,  March  24,  1874,  on 
National  Finances.  New  York,  1874. 

8vo,  pp.  63. 

Speech  of  Bryant  as  one  of  the  executive  committee,  pp. 
12-14. 

1874. 

National  Honesty.  Address  at  a  mass  meeting  held  in 
Cooper  Institute,  March  25,  1874.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  332. 
New  York,  1884.) 


ORATIONS  AND  ADDRESSES.  CV 

1874. 

Eightieth  Birthday  Address,  November  3,  1874. 
(P.  349,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.) 

1875. 

Proceedings  at  the  Complimentary  Dinner  given  to  Hon. 
Simeon  B.  Chittenden  by  his  friends  on  the  occasion  of  his 
retirement  from  business,  March  9, 1875.  New  York.  Printed 
for  private  distribution.  1875. 

8vo,  pp.  47. 

Bryant's  remarks,  pp.  18-19. 

1875. 

Goethe.  Address  delivered  at  the  Centennial  Festival  given 
by  the  Goethe  Club,  of  New  York,  in  honor  of  Goethe,  August 
27,  1875.  (Prose  Writings,  p.  335.  New  York,  1884.) 

Addresses  delivered  before  the  Senate  and  Assembly,  State 
of  New  York. 

(Pp.  358-360,  vol.  ii,  Godwin's  Life.) 

1876. 

Speech  at  the  Burns  Dinner,  January  25,  1876.  (Prose 
Writings,  p.  320.  New  York,  1884.) 

1876. 

To  |  William  Cullen  Bryant  |  at  Eighty  Years.  |  From  his  | 
Friends  and  Countrymen.  |  New  York :  |  Scribner,  Armstrong 
&  Co.,  |  743-745,  Broadway,  |  1876. 

Picture  of  Bryant  vase,  frontispiece.      Sm.  4to,  pp.  64. 

With  full  title,  both  inside  and  out,  pp.  127. 

1877. 

The  |  Haljeck  Memorial.  |  Edited  by  |  Evart  A.  Duyckinck.  | 
Privately  printed  | A  Memorial  |  of  |  Fitz-Greene  Hal- 
leek.  |  A  Description  of  the  |  Dedication  of  the  Monument.  | 
Erected  to  his  Memory  |  at  |  Guilford,  Connecticut,  |  and  |  of 
the  Proceedings  connected  with  the  unveiling  of  the  Poet's 
Statue  in  the  Central  Park.  |  No  poet  had  died  and  received 


CV1  ORATIONS  AND   ADDRESSES. 

such  tribute    in  America.  |  Printed  for  the   Committee  |  by 
Ammerman  and  Wilson,  |  1  Park  Place,  New  York.  |  1877. 

Collation :  Pp.  72.  |  Frontispiece.  |  Portrait  of  Halleck,  Monu- 
ment, and  Guillord,  Conn.,  and  Central  Park. 

1878. 

Address  delivered  at  Clergyman's  Breakfast,  May  1, 1878. 

(Vol.  ii,  Parke  Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant,  p.  393.  New 
York,  1883.) 

Mazzini.  Address  delivered  at  the  unveiling  of  the  bust  of 
Mazzini,  in  Central  Park,  New  York  city,  May  20, 1878.  (Prose 
Writings,  p.  343.  New  York,  1884.) 

1879. 

Bulletin  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  November 
5, 1878.  New  York :  printed  for  the  Society,  1879. 

8vo,  pp.  197-298. 

On  pp.  288-289  are  Bryant's  remarks  at  the  Arctic  Meeting 
at  Chickering  Hall,  January  31, 1878,  at  the  reception  of  the 
Earl  of  Dufferin. 


ESSAYS  AND  KEVIEWS. 

1818. 

An  Essay  on  American  Poetry,  with  several  miscellaneous 
pieces  on  a  variety  of  subjects,  sentimental,  descriptive,  moral, 
and  patriotic.  By  Solyman  Brown,  A.  M.  New  Haven :  Flagg 
&  Gray,  1818.  North  American  Eeview,  July,  1818,  pp.  198- 
211. 

Bryant's  first  review  of  a  book  now  very  rare. 

1819. 

Trisyllabic  Feet  in  Iambic  Measure,  North  American  Review, 
September,  1819. 

1824. 

The  Ruins  of  Psestum,  North  American  Review,  No.  19, 
p.  42.  Percy's  Masque,  North  American  Review,  No.  20,  p.  245. 

1825. 

Hillhouse's  Hadad,  New  York  Review,  p.  1.  Jehan  de  Nostre 
Dame's  Lives  of  the  Provencal  Poets,  New  York  Review,  p.  107. 
Memoirs  of  Count  Segur,  New  York  Review,  p.  291.  Lives  of 
Proven9al  Poets,  New  York  Review,  p.  104.  Rammohun  Roy's 
Precepts  of  Jesus,  New  York  Review,  p.  442.  Scott's  Lives  of 
the  Novelists,  New  York  Review,  p.  413.  United  States  Lit- 
erary Gazette,  New  York  Review,  p.  219.  Wayland's  Two  Dis- 
courses, New  York  Review,  p.  142.  Webster's  Address,  New 
York  Review,  p.  214.  Wheaton's  Reports,  New  York  Review, 
p.  203.  Memoir  of  the  Life  of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  etc.,  New 
York  Review,  p.  23.  A  Pennsylvania  Legend,  New  York 
Review,  The  Atheneum  Magazine,  December,  p.  49. 

1826. 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  the  Right  Honorable  Richard  Brins- 
ley  Sheridan,  New  York  Review,  February,  p.  165.  Recent 

cvii 


CViii  ESSAYS  AND  REVIEWS. 

Poetry,  New  York  Review,  p.  181.  PercivaPs  Poem,  New  York 
Review,  March,  p.  245.  Sketches  of  Corsica,  New  York  Eeview, 
April,  p.  348.  Wheaton's  Life  of  Pinkney,  New  York  Keview, 
May,  p.  435. 

1872. 

Oldham's  Poems,  Old  and  New,  September,  vol.  vi,  iii,  pp. 
329-335. 

1877. 

Abraham  Cowley,  North  American  Eeview,  No.  256,  May- 
June,  pp.  368-382. 


WORKS  EDITED  BY  BRYANT  OR  CON- 
TAINING  ORIGINAL  CONTRIBUTIONS 
AND  INTRODUCTIONS. 

1817. 

North  American  Review  |  and  |  Miscellaneous  Journal.  | 
Vol.  Fifth.  |  Boston.  |  Published  by  Cummings  &  Hilliard,  | 
No.  1  Cornhill.  |  University  Press,  Hilliard  &  Metcalf.  |  1817. 

Thanatopsis  is  on  p.  338. 

A  Fragment,  afterward  known  as  The  Inscription  to  the 
Entrance  of  a  Wood,  is  on  p.  340. 

1818. 

North  American  Review  and  Miscellaneous  Journal,  March, 
To  a  Friend  on  his  Marriage.  March,  Version  of  Simonides. 
March,  The  Waterfowl.  July,  Essay  on  American  Poetry.  No.  9, 
p.  206,  Essay  on  The  Happy  Temperament. 

1821-'22. 

The  Idleman,  by  R.  H.  Dana.  Issued  in  parts.  Part  I, 
dated  New  York,  1821. 

Collation:   Part  I,  Vol.  I.     Title,  The  Idleman.    Inscription, 
"  How  various  his  employments  whom  the  world  calls 
idle."    New  York,  Wiley  &  Halsted,  No.  3  Wall  Street, 
1821-'22.  Certificate  of  Copyright  on  verso,  dated  May  18, 
1821.     Preface,  pp.  3-14.     Letter-press,  pp.  15-57. 
Volume  I  consists  of  four  parts,  with  titles  as  follow :  Part 
I,  pp.  15-57,  Domestic  Life.     Part  II,  pp.  3-63,  The  Son.     Part 
III,  pp.  3-76,  Edward  and  Mary.     Part  IV,  pp.  5-106,  Thomas 
Thornton. 

This  last  part  of  Vol.  I  is  a  double  number,  with  an  address 
to  the  public  on  p.  3,  signed  "  The  Author." 

Volume  II.    Title  and  inscription  as  above,  with  the  date  of 

cix 


CX  WORKS  EDITED  BY  BRYANT. 

1822,  and  No.  1,  Vol.  II,  in  centre  of  page.  Part  I,  letter-press, 
pp.  3-156.  Paul  Felton.  Part  II.  Part  III.  Part  IV,  title- 
page,  etc. ;  letter-press,  pp.  3-64.  Men  and  Books. 

Mr.  Bryant's  contributions  are  as  follows :  Green  Eiver,  Part 
II,  p.  61,  vol.  i.  The  West  Wind,  Part  I,  p.  155,  vol.  ii.  The 
Burial-Place,  Part  II,  vol.  ii.  Walk  at  Sunset,  Part  III,  vol.  ii. 
Winter  Scenes,  Part  IV,  p.  61,  vol.  ii. 

This  work  was  published  in  eight  parts,  royal  8vo,  with 
brown  paper  covers,  having  title  in  full  as  above  and  numbered 
consecutively,  Vol.  I :  I,  II,  III,  IV,  1821 ;  Vol.  II :  I,  II,  III,  IV, 
1822. 

1825. 

The  |  United  States  |  Literary  Gazette.  |  Vol.  I.  |  From 
April,  1824,  to  April,  1825.  |  Boston :  |  Published  by  Cummings, 
Billiard  &  Co.  |  1825. 

Vol.  II,  April,  1825-October,  1825.  Vol.  Ill,  October,  1825- 
April,  1826.  Vol.  IV,  April,  1826-October,  1826. 

1826. 

The  |  New  York  Review  and  Atheneum  Magazine.  |  Vol.  I. 
|  May  to  November,  1825.  |  New  York :  |  E.  Bliss  &  E.  White, 
128  Broadway.  |  Clayton  &  Van  Norden,  Printers.  |  1825. 

Vol.  II,  December,  1825-May,  1826. 

New  York  Literary  Gazette  and  American  Atheneum,  May 
13, 1826,  to  August  26",  1826. 

In  May,  1826,  the  New  York  Review  and  the  American 
Atheneum  were  united  with  the  Literary  Gazette  under  the 
above  title.  October  1,  1826,  these  two  were  united  under  the 
new  title  of  United  States  Review  and  Literary  Gazette. 

The  Atlantic  Souvenir ;  a  Christmas  and  New  Year's  Offer- 
ing, 1826.  Philadelphia :  H.  C.  Carey  &  I.  Lea. 

Bryant's  two  contributions  are — June,  pp.  64-66,  and  Oh 
Fairest  of  the  Rural  Maids,  p.  135. 

1827. 

The  |  United  States  |  Review  and  Literary  Gazette.  |  Vol. 
I.  |  From  October  1,  1826,  to  April  1,  1827.  |  New  York :  |  G. 


WORKS  EDITED  BY  BRYANT.  Cxi 

and  C.  Carvill,  108  Broadway.  |  Boston :  |  Bowles  and  Dearborn, 
72  Washington  Street,  |  1827. 

Vol.  II,  April,  1827,  to  October,  1827. 

The  above  series  form  such  an  important  page  in  the  his- 
tory of  magazine  literature  that  a  few  words  of  explanation  are 
appended  with  the  hope  of  throwing  some  light  upon  the  origin 
of  these  various  publications,  and  Mr.  Bryant's  connection  with 
them. 

The  first  one  of  the  series  was  The  United  States  Literary 
Gazette  of  Boston,  the  first  number  being  issued  in  April,  1824, 
under  the  editorship  of  Theophilus  Parsons,  afterward  so  well 
known  as  professor  in  the  Cambridge  Law  School. 

There  was  at  this  same  time  established  in  New  York  a 
monthly  periodical  under  the  title  of  The  Atlantic  Magazine, 
edited  by  Eobert  C.  Sands,  the  first  number  appearing  in  May. 
The  editorship  was  assumed  by  Henry  J.  Anderson,  afterward 
Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Columbia  College.  This  periodical 
was  continued  through  two  volumes  until  April,  1825,  when  its 
name  was  changed  to  The  New  York  Eeview  and  Atheneum 
Magazine.  This  periodical  ran  through  two  volumes  until  May, 
1826,  when  it  was  joined  with  another  publication  known  under 
the  title  of  the  New  York  Literary  Gazette  and  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Eepository.  The  title  of  the  new  periodical  was  The  New  York 
Literary  Gazette  and  American  Atheneum. 

The  New  York  Literary  Gazette  was  first  known  under  the 
title  of  The  Minerva  or  Literary  Entertaining  and  Scientific 
Journal,  and  was  edited  by  George  Houston  and  James  G. 
Brooks.  This  periodical  ran  through  three  volumes,  the  first 
number  appearing  April  10, 1824,  the  last,  September,  1825. 

In  March,  1825,  Mr.  Brooks  became  sole  editor,  and  in  Sep- 
tember he  started  a  new  publication  under  the  title  of  The  New 
York  Literary  Gazette  and  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Eepository.  This 
ran  from  September  10,  1825,  to  March  4, 1826,  in  May  of  the 
same  year  its  title  being  again  changed  as  stated  above  to  The 
New  York  Literary  Gazette  and  American  Atheneum. 

Bryant  became  joint-editor  with  Mr.  Anderson  of  The  New 
York  Eeview  and  Atheneum  Magazine,  and  when  in  October, 
1826,  the  periodical  mentioned  above  was  merged  with  the 


cxii  WORKS  EDITED  BY  BRYANT. 

United  States  Gazette  of  Boston  under  the  title  of  The  United 
States  Review  and  Literary  Gazette,  Mr.  Bryant  still  continued 
as  the  New  York  editor  of  the  new  publication,  Mr.  James  G. 
Carter  being  the  Boston  editor. 

Bryant's  contributions  to  these  periodicals  will  be  found  in 
the  Chronology  of  his  Poems. 

1826. 

Miscellaneous  Poems  |  Selected  from  the  |  United  States 
Literary  Gazette.  |  Boston :  |  Cummings,  Hilliard  &  Company,  | 
and  Harrison  Gray.  |  1826. 

Collation :  18mo,  pp.  172.  Title  as  above.  Copyright  on  verso, 
January  2,  1826.  Advertisement,  unpaged,  verso  blank. 
Contents,  pp.  i-iv.  Text,  pp.  1-172. 

1828. 

The  Talisman  for  1828,  1829,  1830.  Published  by  Elam 
Bliss,  Broadway,  New  York. 

This  work  was  published  as  an  Annual  in  three  12mo  vols., 
with  numerous  illustrations  by  prominent  American  artists. 
Collation:   The  Talisman,  1828.     12mo,  pp.   288.     Engraved 
frontispiece.      False  title-page   engraved.      Title-page. 
Certificate  of  copyright  on  verso,  dated  1827.     Preface, 
pp.  iii-x,  signed  Francis  Herbert,  a  nom  de  guerre  for  R. 
C.  Sands,  dated  New  York,  December  1, 1827.     Contents, 
unpaged.    List  of  embellishments,  unpaged.     Two  em- 
bellishments, unpaged.     Etruscan  antiquities,  vase  of 
flowers.    Text,  pp.  1-288. 

This  publication  was  the  joint  production  of  G.  C.  Ver- 
planck,  W.  C.  Bryant,  and  Robert  C.  Sands.  Bryant's  contribu- 
tions for  1828  were :  A  Scene  on  the  Banks  of  the  Hudson,  The 
Hurricane,  sonnet — "William  Tell,  The  Legend  of  the  Devil's 
Pulpit,  The  Close  of  Autumn,  and  The  Cascade  of  Melsingah. 

1829. 

The  Talisman,  1829,  12mo,  pp.  342.  Bryant's  contributions 
for  1829  were :  Recollections  of  the  South  of  Spain,  Moriscan 
Romance,  To  the  Past,  Lament  of  Romero,  Story  of  the  Island 


WORKS  EDITED   BY   BRYANT.  Cxiii 

of  Cuba,  The  Greek  Boy,  The  Hunter's  Serenade,  Eeminis- 
cences  of  New  York. 

1830. 

The  Talisman,  1830,  12mo,  pp.  358. 

Bryant's  contributions  for  1830  were :  To  the  Evening  Wind, 
The  Indian  Spring,  Love  and  Folly,  The  Whirlwind,  song — 
When  the  Firmament  quivers  with  Daylight's  Young  Beam, 
The  Siesta,  song — Innocent  Child  and  Snow-white  Flower,  To 
the  Eiver  Arve,  Early  Spanish  Poetry,  Eva,  The  Alcayde  of 
Molina,  The  Death  of  Aliatar,  Phanette  des  Gantelmes,  The 
Marriage  Blunder,  To  Cole  the  Painter,  on  his  departure  for 
Europe,  Eeminiscences  of  New  York,  No.  11. 

1830. 

The  American  Landscape.  No.  1.  Containing  the  following 
views :  Weehawken,  Catskill  Mountains,  Fort  Putnam,  Dela- 
ware Water  Gap,  Falls  of  the  Sawkill,  Winnipisiogee  Lake. 
Engraved  from  original  and  accurate  drawings,  executed  from 
Nature  expressly  for  this  work  from  well-authenticated  pic- 
tures, with  historical  and  topographical  illustrations.  New 
York,  published  by  Elam  Bliss,  1830. 

Collation :  4to.  Title  as  above.  Engraved  cover  by  J.  Smillie, 
subject,  Mambrino's  Helmet.  Letter-press,  pp.  16,  in- 
cluding title-page.  Prospectus,  pp.  2.  The  American 
Landscape,  signed  by  A.  B.  Durand  and  E.  Waite, 
Jr.,  dated  New  York,  December  23,  1830.  Preface, 
pp.  2,  signed  by  William  Cullen  Bryant.  Illustrations 
(six) ;  proof  impressions  on  India  paper.  No.  1.  All 
published. 

The  letter-press  of  this  publication  was  to  have  been  entirely 
by  Mr.  Bryant,  and  the  work  was  to  have  consisted  of  views  of 
well-known  American  scenery  by  eminent  artists.  It  proved  a 
failure,  and  ceased  with  the  first  number. 

1832. 

Tales  of  the  Glauber  Spa,  by  several  American  authors. 
[Catherine  Sedgwick,  J.  K.  Paulding,  W.  C.  Bryant,  E.  C. 

8 


CX1V  WORKS  EDITED   BY  BRYANT. 

Sands,  and  William  Leggett.]     In  two  volumes.    New  York : 
J.  and  J.  Harper,  1832. 

12mo,  I,  pp.  276 ;  II,  pp.  263. 

Bryant's  two  contributions  are  both  in  Vol.  I,  The  Skeleton's 
Cave,  pp.  193-227,  and  Medfield,  pp.  243-276. 

This  compilation  was  to  have  been  called  The  Sextad,  from 
the  number  of  authors  engaged  upon  it,  but  Verplanck  with- 
drew, leaving  only  five. 

1833. 

Miscellanies.  |  First  published  under  the  name  of  The  j 
Talisman.  |  By  |  G.  C.  Verplanck,  |  W.  C.  Bryant,  |  and  |  Kobert 
C.  Sands.  |  In  three  volumes.  |  Illustrated  with  fine  engravings.  | 
Vol.  I.  |  Elam  Bliss,  New  York.  |  MDCCCXXXIIL 
Collation:  Vol.  I.     12mo,  pp.   288.     Illustrated  frontispiece. 
Title  as  above.     Copyright  on  verso.     Advertisement  of 
the  publishers.     Verso,  blank.     Preface,  pp.  iii-x,  dated 
New  York,  December  1,  1827,  signed  Francis  Herbert. 
Contents,  unpaged.     List  of  embellishments,  unpaged. 
Two   embellishments,  unpaged.     Etruscan  antiquities. 
Vase,  flowers.     Text,  pp.  1-288. 
Identical  in  size  and  contents  with  The  Talisman. 
Volume  II,  12mo,  pp.  342. 
Volume  III,  12mo,  pp.  358. 

All  the  original  illustrations,  prefaces,  etc.,  reproduced  from 
Talisman. 

1834. 

The  |  Atlantic  Club-Book,  |  being  |  Sketches  in  Prose  and 
Verse,  |  by  |  various  Authors.  |  In  two  volumes.  |  New  York :  | 
1834. 

8vo,  I,  pp.  312.     II,  pp.  312. 

These  volumes  are  composed  of  a  number  of  pieces  com- 
piled from  the  columns  of  the  New  York  Mirror. 

Bryant's  contributions  occur  on  p.  49,  vol.  i,  Song  of  Mari- 
on's Men ;  p.  217,  vol.  i,  The  Robber ;  p.  92,  vol.  ii,  August. 

1839. 

The  Jubilee  of  the  Constitution.  A  discourse  delivered  at 
the  request  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  New  York, 


WORKS  EDITED   BY  BRYANT.  CXV 

Tuesday,  April  30,  1839 ;  being  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
inauguration  of  George  Washington  as  President  of  the  United 
States.  By  John  Quincy  Adams.  New  York,  1839. 

8vo,  pp.  136. 

On  p.  124  is  an  Ode,  by  Mr.  Bryant,  in  four  stanzas,  Great 
were  the  Hearts,  and  Strong  the  Minds,  written  for  the  oc- 
casion. 

1840. 

Harper's  |  Family  Library.  |  No.  CXI.  |  Selections  j  from  | 
American  Poets.  |  By  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  New  York :  | 
[1840.] 

18mo,  pp.  136. 

1842. 

A  Discourse  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  William  Ellery 
Channing,  D.  D.,  pronounced  before  the  Unitarian  Societies  of 
New  York  and  Brooklyn,  in  the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  Octo- 
ber 13, 1842.  By  Henry  W.  Bellows.  New  York,  1842. 

8vo,  pp.  28. 

On  p.  27  is  an  original  hymn  of  three  stanzas  by  Bryant, 
While  yet  the  Harvest  Fields  are  White. 

1847. 

The  True  Position  of  the  Church  in  Relation  to  the  Age.  A 
discourse  delivered  at  the  dedication  of  the  Church  of  the 
Saviour,  Wednesday,  November  10, 1847.  By  R.  C.  Waterston. 
Boston,  1847. 

8vo,  pp.  40. 

On  p.  40  is  a  Dedication  Hymn  by  Mr.  Bryant  in  four 
stanzas,  Ancient  of  Days !  except  Thou  Deign. 

1852. 

The  Home  -Book  of  the  Picturesque ;  or,  American  Scenery, 
Art,  and  Literature.  Thirteen  steel  engravings.  New  York : 
Putnam,  1852. 

4to,  pp.  188. 

Bryant's  contribution  is  The  Valley  of  the  Housatonic,  pp. 
155-160,  with  engraving. 


WORKS  EDITED  BY   BRYANT. 

1853. 

Homes  |  of  |  American  Authors.  |  New  York :  G.  Putnam 
&  Co.  |  10  Park  Place,  1853. 
Sq.  8vo,  pp.  viii-267. 

Bryant's  contribution  is  a  sketch  of  William  Gilmore  Simms, 
p.  257. 

1855. 

The  |  Knickerbocker  Gallery.  |  A  Testimonial  |  to  the  Editor 
of  the  |  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  j  From  its  Contributors.  | 
With  forty-eight  portraits  on  steel.  |  From  original  pictures.  | 
Engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  |  New  York,  1855. 

4to,  pp.  xiv  +  505. 

Bryant's  contribution  is  the  Snow  Shower,  p.  81. 

1856. 

Celebration  of  the  Two-hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  In- 
corporation of  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  at  West  Bridgewater,  June 
3, 1856.,  etc.  Frontispiece  and  portrait.  Boston,  1856. 

8vo,  pp.  167. 

On  pp.  18-19  is  an  ode  by  Mr.  Bryant  of  seven  stanzas,  Two 
Hundred  Times  has  June  Renewed. 

[This  Ode  occurs  again  on  pp.  70-71  of  Celebration  of  the 
Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Settlement  of  Hadley, 
Mass.,  at  Hadley,  June  8, 1859,  etc.,  Northampton,  1859. 

8vo,  pp.  98.] 

1858. 

Memorial  of  Jessie  Willis :  prepared  for  her  Little  Daughters, 
Annie,  Blanche,  and  Jessie,  by  their  Father.  New  York: 
April,  1858.  [For  private  circulation.] 

12mo,  pp.  75. 

On  pp.  14-15  is  a  letter  from  Bryant  to  Mr.  Willis. 

1859. 

Gifts  of  Genius :  |  A  Miscellany  |  of  |  Prose  and  Poetry  | 
by  |  American  Authors,  |  New  York :  |  Printed  for  C.  A.  Daven- 
port. |  [1859.] 

8vo,  pp.  xii-}-264. 

Bryant's  contributions  are  To  the  Public,  pp.  vii-viii,  dated 


WORKS   EDITED   BY   BRYANT.  CXVii 

N.  Y.,  June,  1859,  and  Bocage's  Penitential  Sonnet,  from  the 
Portuguese,  p.  264. 

1860. 

Helen  Euthven  Waterston.  [A  memorial.]  Printed,  not 
published.  Boston,  1860. 

8vo,  pp.  76. 

Two  extracts  from  Bryant's  Letters  are  given  on  pp.  12-13 

and  51. 

1862. 

Only  Once.  Original  Papers,  by  various  contributors.  Por- 
traits of  Bryant,  Lowell,  and  Catherine  Sedgwick.  New  York, 
1862. 

4to,  pp.  16. 

On  p.  5  is  a  poem  by  Mr.  Bryant,  The  Better  Age. 

1863. 

Imperial  Courts  |  of  |  France,  England,  Kussia,  Prussia,  | 
Sardinia,  Austria.  |  Richly  illustrated  with  |  Portraits  of  Im- 
perial Sovereigns  |  and  their  |  Cabinet  Ministers,  |  with  |  Bio- 
graphical Sketches  |  and  |  an  Introduction  by  William  Cullen 
Bryant.  |  Edited  by  W.  H.  Bidwell.  |  New  York,  |  1863. 

Royal  8vo,  pp.  xiv-411. 

1863. 

Songs  of  the  War.     Part  I.     Albany,  J.  Munsell,  1863. 

16mo,  pp.  96. 

Bryant's  contribution  is  Our  Country's  Call,  pp.  12-13. 

1864. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Fair.     Tuesday,  April  5, 1864.    New  York. 
4to,  pp.  206. 
Bryant's  contribution  is  A  Morceau  from  Metastasio,  p.  9. 

1864. 

A  Year  in  China ;  and  a  narrative  of  capture  and  imprison- 
ment, when  homeward  bound,  on  board  the  rebel  pirate  Florida. 
By  Mrs.  H.  Dwight  Williams.  With  an  introductory  note  by 
William  Cullen  Bryant.  New  York,  1864. 

12mo,  pp.  xvi+362. 

The  Introductory  Note  is  on  pp.  xiii-xvi. 


Civil!  WORKS  EDITED  BY   BRYANT. 

1865. 

Poetical  Tributes  |  to  the  |  Memory  of  |  Abraham  Lincoln.  | 
Philadelphia,  |  1865. 
8vo,  pp.  306. 
Bryant's  contribution  is  the  first,  an  Ode,  on  p.  13. 

1865. 

The  Lincoln  Memorial :  A  Record  of  the  Life,  Assassination, 
and  Obsequies  of  the  Martyred  President.  New  York,  1865. 
Portrait  and  woodcut  title-page. 

8vo,  pp.  288. 

On  p.  205  is  Bryant's  Ode  for  the  Funeral  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, and  on  pp.  205-206  three  stanzas  of  A  New  National 
Hymn,  composed  by  Mr.  Bryant  at  the  request  of  the  reader 
[Dr.  Samuel  Osgood],  and  circulated  among  a  few  personal 
friends,  and  beginning,  Oh,  North,  with  all  thy  Vales  of  Green. 

1866. 

Obsequies  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  the  City  of  New  York. 
Under  the  Auspices  of  the  Common  Council.     By  David  T. 
Valentine.     Portrait  and  illustrations.     New  York,  1866. 
Eoyal  8vo,  pp.  254. 

Bryant's  Ode,  which  had  appeared  in  Poetical  Tributes, 
1865,  is  on  p.  191. 

1868. 

The  League  [Published  for  American  Free  Trade  League]. 
No.  10.  New  York,  1868. 

4to,  pp.  105-116. 

On  p.  105  is  a  letter  dated  January  18,  1868,  accepting  the 
invitation  to  a  dinner,  given  by  the  American  Free  Trade 
League,  in  his  honor,  January  30th. 

1868. 

A  Landscape  Book,  by  American  Artists  and  American 
Authors.  Sixteen  steel  engravings.  New  York:  Putnam, 
1868. 

8vo,  pp.  [4]  +  108. 

Bryant's  contributions  are  three :  Catterskill  Falls  (pp.  30- 


WORKS  EDITED   BY  BRYANT. 

33),  with  engraving;  The  Valley  of  the  Housatonic  (pp.  38-43), 
originally  published  in  the  Home  Book  of  the  Picturesque,  1852 ; 
and  A  Summer  Eamble  (pp.  63-65). 

1868. 

Banquet  to  His  Excellency  Anson  Burlingame,  and  his  As- 
sociates of  the  Chinese  Embassy,  by  the  Citizens  of  New  York, 
on  Tuesday,  June  23,  1868.  New  York,  1868. 

8vo,  pp.  65. 

On  p.  64  is  a  letter  from  Bryant  dated  Koslyn,  June  9, 1868, 
to  Elliot  C.  Cowdin,  declining  his  invitation  to  the  banquet. 

1868. 

The  Atlantic  Almanac,  1868.     Edited  by  0.  W.  Holmes  and 
Donald  G.  Mitchell.     Illustrated.     Boston. 
Eoyal  8vo,  pp.  76. 
On  p.  47  is  The  Planting  of  the  Apple-tree. 

1870. 

The  Atlantic  Almanac.     1870. 
Eoyal  8vo,  pp.  72. 

On  pp.  53-56  is  The  Breaking  of  the  Truce.  (From  the 
Fourth  Book  of  the  Iliad.) 

1871. 

Memorial  Eecord  in  Memory  of  Hon.  Increase  Sumner,  of 
Great  Barrington,  Mass.  Portrait.  Bridgeport,  1871. 

8vo,  pp.  74. 

On  p.  28  is  a  letter  from  Bryant,  dated  December  14,  1870, 
declining  an  invitation  to  a  banquet  of  the  Berkshire  Bar,  the 
last  meeting  of  Judge  Sumner  with  his  professional  colleagues. 

,  1871. 

Workday  Christianity ;  or,  the  Gospel  in  the  Trades.  By 
Alexander  Clark.  With  an  introductory  note  by  William  Cullen 
Bryant.  Philadelphia,  1871. 

12mo,  pp.  x  +  300. 

The  Introductory  Note,  dated  New  York,  March  16,  1870, 
is  on  pp.  vii-viii. 


CXX  WORKS  EDITED   BY   BRYANT. 

1871. 

A  Library  |  of  Poetry  and  Song.  |  Being  |  Choice  Selections 
from  the  Best  Poets.  |  With  an  introduction  by  William  Cullen 
Bryant.  New  York :  |  J.  B.  Ford  &  Co.,  1871. 

Eoyal  8vo,  pp.  xxxii-789,  with  Frontispiece — portrait  of 
Bryant.  Introduction,  pp.  xxiii-xxxi. 

1871. 

II.  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  for 
May,  June,  July,  and  August,  1871. 

8vo,  pp.  81-156. 

On  p.  155  is  a  letter  dated  Cummington,  August  9,  1871,  to 
the  Rev.  R.  C.  Waterston,  declining  an  invitation  to  the  cele- 
bration of  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  Scott's  birth. 

1872-'74. 

Picturesque  America  |  or  |  The  Land  we  live  in.  |  A  Deline- 
ation by  Pen  and  Pencil  |  of  |  The  Mountains,  Rivers,  Lakes, 
Forests,  Waterfalls,  Shores,  Canons,  Valleys,  Cities  and  other 
Picturesque  Features  of  our  Country.  |  With  illustrations  on 
steel  and  wood  |  by  Eminent  American  Artists.  |  Edited  by 
William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  Issued  in  Nos.  |  New  York :  |  D.  Ap- 
pleton  and  Company.  |  1872  and  1874. 

2  vols.,  4to. 

1873. 

St.  Nicholas,  Vol.  I,  No.  1.    November,  1873.    New  York. 
8vo,  pp.  48. 

On  p.  2  is  Bryant's  translation  from  the  Spanish,  The 
Woodman  and  the  Sandal  Tree. 

1875. 

The  Bryant  Celebration  by  the  Chicago  Literary  Club,  No- 
vember 3, 1874.  Chicago,  1875. 

8vo,  33  pages, 

On  p.  11,  Letter  from  Bryant  dated  Roslyn,  October  27, 
1874,  to  the  Rev.  Robert  Collyer,  President  of  the  Chicago 
Literary  Club.  On  pp.  18-19,  24  lines  of  A  Poem  addressed 
to  Mr  A.  Bryant,  Brookfield,  May,  1809,  written  in  the  poet's 


WORKS  EDITED  BY  BRYANT. 

fifteenth  year,  and  beginning,  Once  more  the  Bard,  with  Eager 
Eye,  Keviews. 

1876. 

Laurel  Leaves.  Original  Poems,  Stories,  and  Essays.  Illus- 
trated. Boston,  1876. 

4to,  pp.  xv  +  446. 

Bryant's  contributions  are  two  poems  from  the  Spanish,  The 
Price  of  a  Pleasure  (p.  53)  and  The  Woodman  and  the  Sandal 
Tree  (p.  54;  see  preceding  item),  besides  a  prose  selection, 
The  Poet  Goethe  (pp.  177-186),  an  address  delivered  at  the 
Goethe  Celebration,  New  York,  September,  1875. 

1876. 

Ouster's  Immortality.  A  poem,  with  biographical  sketches 
of  the  chief  actors  in  the  late  Tragedy  of  the  Wilderness.  By 
Laura  S.  Webb.  New  York,  Evening  Post  Press,  [1876]. 

12mo,  pp.  72. 

With  facsimile  letter  of  one  page  from  Bryant  to  the  author. 

1876. 

New  York  Tribune.     Extra  No.  33.     Independence  Day 
Orations,  July  4,  1876. 
8vo,  pp.  64. 

On  p.  64  is  a  Centennial  Ode  by  Mr.  Bryant  of  four  stanzas, 
Through  Storm  and  Calm  the  Years  have  Led,  sung  at  New 
York,  July  4,  1876. 

1876. 

The  Centennial  Celebration  of  American  Independence,  at 
the  Academy  of  Music,  New  York,  July  4, 1876.  Hon.  John 
A.  Dix,  presiding,  with  the  Oration  and  the  other  exercises. 

8vo,  pp.  81. 

Centennial  Ode  on  fourth  leaf,  unpaged. 

1876. 

Memoir  of  Dr.  Samuel  Gridley  Howe.    By  Julia  Ward  Howe : 
with  other  memorial  tributes.     Published  by  the  Howe  Memo- 
rial Committee.     Portrait.    Boston,  1876. 
8vo,  pp.  128. 


CXlii  WORKS  EDITED  BY  BRYANT. 

On  pp.  123, 124  is  a  letter  from  Bryant  to  the  Hon.  F.  W. 
Bird,  Chairman  of  the  Committee. 

1876. 

St.  Nicholas,  Vol.  IV,  No.  2,  December,  1876.    New  York. 
8vo,  pp.  65-152. 
The  Boys  of  my  Boyhood,  pp.  99-103. 

1877. 

Studies  in  Bryant.  |  A  Text-Book  |  by  |  Joseph  Alden,  D.  D., 
|  of  the  State  Normal  School  at  Albany.  |  With  an  Introduc- 
tion |  by  |  William  Cullen  Bryant.  |  New  York :  |  D.  Appleton 
and  Company,  1,  3,  and  5  Bond  Street.  |  1877. 

12mo,  pp.  127.    Introduction,  pp.  5-10. 

1877. 

A  New  |  Library  of  Poetry  and  Song.  |  Edited  by  |  William 
Cullen  Bryant.  |  Published  in  parts.    New  York,  1877. 
4to,  2  vols. 
Portrait  frontispiece.  |  Introduction,  pp.  7-14. 

1878. 

A  Popular  History  |  of  |  The  United  States  |  From  the  | 
First  Discovery  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  |  By  the  North- 
men, To  the  end  of  the  |  First  Century  of  the  Union  |  of  the 
States.  |  Preceded  by  a  sketch  of  the  Pre-Historic  Period  and 
the  |  Age  of  the  Mound  Builders.  |  By  William  Cullen  Bryant  | 
and  |  Sydney  Howard  Gay.  |  Fully  Illustrated.  |  New  York :  | 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  |  Successors  to  |  Scribner,  Armstrong 
&  Co.  |  1878. 
Collation :  4  vols.,  royal  8vo,  with  complete  index.  Published 

in  monthly  parts.     Frontispiece,  Portrait  of  Bryant,  and 

Preface  by  Wm.  C.  Bryant,  pp.  vii-xxiv. 

1878. 

The  Sunday  School  Times,  Vol.  XX,  No.  8.    Philadelphia, 
February  22,  1878. 
4to,  pp.  113-128. 


WORKS  EDITED  BY  BRYANT.  CXXlii 

On  p.  113  is  a  poem  by  Bryant,  his  last  contribution  to  any 
newspaper  or  magazine,  The  Twenty-second  of  February,  six 
stanzas  beginning,  Pale  is  the  February  Sky. 

This  was  a  special  number  of  The  Sunday  School  Times. 
The  editorial  is  followed  in  the  second  column  by  Bryant's 
poem,  and  two  paragraphs,  Eeligious  Patriotism,  by  Edward 
Eggleston,  D.  D.,  and  The  Face  of  Washington,  by  Joseph  Cook. 
Then  follow  contributions  by  President  Hayes  and  the  Govern- 
ors of  thirteen  States. 

1879. 

Thoughts  |  on  |  The  Eeligious  Life  |  by  |  Joseph  Alden, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.  |  Author  of  The  Science  of  Government,  Studies 
in  Bryant,  etc.  |  With  an  introduction  |  by  |  William  Cullen 
Bryant.  |  New  York :  |  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  |  182  Fifth  Ave- 
nue, |  1879. 

12mo,  129  pp.,  brown  covers  with  outside  title.  Introduc- 
tion, pp.  7-12. 

1886. 

Complete  Works  of  Shakespeare.  Edited  by  W.  C.  Bryant, 
assisted  by  E.  A.  Duyckinck.  Illustrated. 

3  volumes,  4to,  New  York,  1886. 

Bryant  wrote  the  Preface  to  this  edition,  the  actual  work  of 
editing  having  been  done  by  Mr.  Duyckinck. 


BIOGKAPHIES  OF  MR.  BRYANT 

1828. 

The  |  Critic.  |  A  Weekly  Keview  of  Literature,  Fine  Arts,  | 
and  the  Drama.  |  Edited  by  William  Leggett. 

Volume  I,  from  November  1, 1828,  to  May  2, 1829. 

Biography  of  William  Cullen  Bryant,  pp.  105-107,  December 
13, 1828. 

The  present  copy  contains  Vol.  I,  through  May  2,  1829,  and 
the  beginning  of  a  second  volume,  pp.  1-96,  seven  numbers, 
May  9,  May  16,  May  23,  May  30,  June  6,  June  13,  June  20.  On 
p.  89  is  a  notice  signed  by  the  editor,  announcing  the  suspen- 
sion of  publication. 

1846. 

Thoughts  on  the  Poets.  By  Henry  T.  Tuckerman.  New 
York,  1846. 

12mo,  pp.  318. 
Biography,  pp.  303-318. 

1854. 

Off-hand  Takings;  or,  Crayon  Sketches  of  the  Noticeable 
Men  of  our  Age.  By  George  W.  Bungay.  Illustrated.  New 
York,  1854. 

12mo,  pp.  408. 

Biography  of  Bryant,  pp.  309-315,  with  steel  portrait. 

1877. 

Men  of  Mark.    By  Edwin  P.  Whipple.    Atlas  Series,  No.  2. 
New  York,  1877. 
8vo,  pp.  270. 
Biography  of  Bryant  by  Kay  Palmer,  pp.  102-126. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  MR.  BRYANT.  CXXV 

1883. 

A  Biography  |  of  |  William  Cullen  Bryant,  |  with  |  Extracts 
from  his  private  Correspondence  |  by  |  Parke  Godwin.  |  In  two 
volumes.  |  New  York :  |  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1883. 

8vo. 

1886. 

Bryant  and  his  Friends.    Some  Eeminiscences  of  the  Knick- 
erbocker Writers.    By  James  Grant  Wilson.    New  York,  1886. 
Bryant  and  his  Friends,  pp.  11-127. 


1890. 

William  Cullen  Bryant.    By  John  Bigelow.    American  Men 
of  Letters  Series.    Boston,  1890. 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES,  ETC. 

1878. 

Bryant  Memorial  Meeting  of  the  Century,  Tuesday  Evening, 
November  12, 1878.  Century  Eooms,  New  York. 

8vo,  74  pages,  including  title,  and  a  portrait  of  Bryant  en- 
graved by  H.  B.  Hall,  Jr. 

1878. 

The  Life,  Character,  and  Writings  of  William  Cullen  Bryant. 
A  Commemorative  Address  delivered  before  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  December  30, 
1878.  By  George  William  Curtis.  New  York :  Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons,  743  and  745  Broadway. 

8vo,  false  title,  title,  pp.  8-64. 

1878. 

Tribute  to  William  Cullen  Bryant.  By  Robert  C.  Waterston, 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  June 
13, 1878.  With  an  Appendix.  Boston :  Press  of  John  Wilson 
&  Son,  1878. 

8vo,  54  pages,  including  title. 

Contains  the  ancestry  of  Bryant,  several  pieces  by  Bryant, 
and  an  account  of  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were 
written  and  published,  numerous  anecdotes,  and  a  verbatim 
reprint  of  Bryant's  last  address  on  unveiling  the  Bust  of  Maz- 
zini  in  Central  Park. 

1878. 

In  Memoriam,  William  Cullen  Bryant.     Funeral  Oration, 
June  14, 1878.    By  H.  W.  Bellows,  D.  D.    New  York,  1878. 
8vo,  pp.  11. 
cxxvi 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES,  ETC. 

1879. 

The  Bryant  Memorial  Meeting  of  the  Goethe  Club  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  Wednesday,  October  30,  1878.  New  York : 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  182  Fifth  Avenue,  1879. 

8vo,  56  pages,  including  title,  portrait  of  Bryant,  coat  with 
"frogs  "prefixed. 

As  originally  published,  this  Memorial  had  a  paper  cover, 
with  a  list  of  Members  of  the  Goethe  Club  on  p.  3.  The  Ora- 
tion, Bryant  among  his  Countrymen,  the  Poet,  the  Patriot,  the 
Man,  by  Dr.  Samuel  Osgood,  was  published  separately,  1879, 
8vo,  pp.  34. 


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